Orlando, FL - The media and homosexual advocates have intentionally lied about the Indiana Religious Freedom law. "The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not novel. These laws have been around for two decades, and prior to that for several decades in Supreme Court case law," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "So what has changed to stir up the present controversy? The law provides the same historical protection for religious freedom. What has changed is the homosexual lobby has come out of the closet with its agenda - to trample religious freedom and elevate sexual behavior to a preeminent status," said Staver.
President Barack Obama voted for the same law when he was state senator in Illinois. And in 1993, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed by a unanimous House, by a vote of 97-3 in the Senate, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The law was supported by a diverse coalition that included the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Christian Legal Society, Southern Baptists, and the National Association for Evangelicals, just to name a few. Following passage of the federal law, 19 states passed similar laws. "I personally wrote the same law that was overwhelmingly passed in Florida in the 1990s. There is not one case in the country that the homosexual lobby can point to as an example of the bizarre discrimination they now claim the law will inflict, because their distortions are intentional lies," said Staver.
"The Indiana controversy reveals what we have known about the homosexual lobby. Homosexual advocates have no tolerance for religious freedom. This is a zero sum game with a winner and a loser, and the homosexual lobby has no room for religious freedom or people of conscience who disagree," noted Staver. "The religious freedom law does not need clarification or fixing. There is nothing to clarify or fix. Governor Mike Pence should stand against the lies and the bullying and move on with the law that has been tested for decades. The intent of the homosexual lobby is to vilify and intimidate so that, in the fog of distortion, they will try to push through a law that elevates sexual behavior to a privileged status. Governor Pence and other lawmakers should not be fooled," concluded Staver.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
