Reading this post by lefty Hoosier Melissa McEwan who has been working against the reprehensible you can discriminate against gay people for Jesus law in Indiana, I can’t help think of how different the attitude was here when there are problems. We can work here, but let’s just write off a whole state?
It strikes me as, ahem, interesting that some of the Seattle people I saw on Twitter yesterday with the #BoycottIndiana hashtag weren’t saying boycott Seattle when it came out that we had the worst of the largest 50 metro ares’ gender pay disparity. When that happened, we got to work. We organized. We pressured city and county government to work toward fixing that shit. We had commissions that you can debate how much they did, but it isn’t nothing. We had conversations, and many women shared their stories. But with Indiana, it’s just jump right to why don’t you move and to boycott.
And don’t get me wrong, there are times when a boycott of a state can be effective. The one that came to mind to me was a boycott of South Carolina probably helped get them to stop flying the Confederate flag. But the difference is that local people in South Carolina took the lead. If local Hoosier orgs start telling me they don’t want me to spend money on or in Indiana, I’ll take a serious look. But whatever happens has to come first and foremost from Indiana.
It’s more complicated than you realize, Carl. Yes, some companies and organizations — including the NCAA — have said they’re reassessing their relationship with Indiana, and rethinking whether they want to expose employees and customers to the social climate there. Not because of any sudden concern about human rights. These are hard-nose business decisions.
And it will have an impact, because among other things Indianapolis — currently hosting the NCAA’s Final Four — is a major convention city. Losing a significant amount of convention business, alone, will be very damaging to the city’s and state’s economies. But Indiana stands to lose more, including corporate headquarters, business relocations, and manufacturing plant sitings.
The potential that their employees and/or customers may be exposed to mistreatment hurts their business. It hurts their organizational image. It makes it hard to recruit and retain employees. It exposes companies to a risk of customers walking away.
Moreover, it isn’t just their gay employees or customers who are at risk. All their employees and customers are at risk. How many gays do you know who go around wearing signs that say, “Kick me, I’m gay,” or other Star of David equivalents?
If a business owner can legally discriminate against someone he thinks is gay, and is inclined to do so, that means anyone is a potential victim of such discrimination. Because people make mistakes of identification. Especially those who go through life wearing blinders.
Let’s suppose you’re a business person, and you’re taking a prospective customer to lunch, hoping to close a big deal. To you, it’s just a routine business lunch, albeit an important one. You take the prospect to a nice restaurant — and are kicked out. Because the owner saw two guys come in together and assumed they were a couple.
Both of you are married, have kids, go to church, are reputable in the community. But the restaurant owner assumed you were a gay couple, refused to serve you, and ordered you to leave his business. In Indiana, this is legal, and he’s shielded from a lawsuit.
This is very awkward and embarrassing for both you and your sales prospect. He gives you a funny look. He wonders what the hell is going on. And he walks out. Goodbye sale.
How many business people or professionals are going to run that risk? We’re already seeing the NCAA and several important companies saying they’re not going to expose their employees and customers to that possibility. These are business decisions, not a boycott.
And then there’s the matter of trying to recruit new hires, or asking existing employees, to move to, live in, and raise their kids in a state with that kind of social environment. People are going to have concerns about that, and some will refuse to go, even leave the company before assenting to subjecting their families to that environment.
Indiana Republicans have stepped in it bigtime. And it’s probably too late to undo all of the damage. They could repeal this law tomorrow, but some businesses, organizations, and convention organizers are already making other plans and won’t be inclined to return.
Oh boo-hoo.
Despite what Republicans believe, this law has nothing to do with protecting religious freedom. It’s all about how people treat each other. I want nothing to do with a social culture where people think it’s okay to mistreat other people because of some marker like race, gender, age, sexual orientation, or whatever. I’m not gay, but I don’t want to be around people like that, and I don’t want to be in that kind of social environment. It’s like being in a room full of people using the “n” word and telling racial jokes. You don’t have to be black to be uncomfortable with that. I would get up and leave.
Promise?
@2, 4 – Your presence offends my religious beliefs. Get your ass out of this thread. Only nature worshipping rabbits are allowed here! (Just kidding! haha)
You don’t have any religious beliefs except your own self-worship. Face it Roger, you’re in love with yourself.
Time to push the “ignore” button.
http://www.rollitup.org/t/my-i.....ig.843221/
There are states i cannot move to because the state refuses to recognize that I’m married.
I don’t think your comparison is valid. If Indiana had passed a law allowing discrimination against women, that they could refuse service to women, would you be arguing that you could not be bothered to do much until the people of Indiana led the fight?
@2. I know boo hoo hoo, I felt the same way about those dead on Germanwings airplane.
If you don’t want to die in an airplane then don’t get on a plane.
@6 religious beliefs? Who really believes in all religious beliefs? Like getting married 5 times after divorce. The divorced shouldn’t be served either. Doesn’t anyone have true religious beliefs or are they all frauds and just really bigots?
So, let me see if I understand. When the Nazis started to take away Jews civil rights, your response would have been “Let the German people handle it”? They handled it alright. With denial and obfuscation. And BTW, for those who think this isn’t a valid comparison, they took away the rights of gay people, too. We died alongside the Jews. Not a coincidence.
If I’m planning a conference and because of this law, I decide not to have it in Indiana but somewhere else instead, I realize that some innocent people in Indiana will by hurt by my decision. But the people in the other state will be helped.
If I decide to have my conference in non-Indiana because I don’t like Indiana weather, or because my rat-of-an-exboyfriend was from there or for any other reason, some innocent people in Indiana would be hurt just as much as if I based my decision on this stupid law.
It seems that as long as I have the conference somewhere, there will be winners and losers. So if I were planning a conference (and I’m not) I would plan to have it outside of Indiana.
the difference between the wage gap in Seattle and the discriminatory law in Indiana is that one is an extremely complex problem that has pervasive and subtle causes requiring years if not decades of hard work from a huge number of people to ultimately fix whereas the other is a fully conscious and deliberate choice that can be fixed with the stroke of a pen by a very specific body of people and one man in particular. Indiana can fix their problem in an instant, whereas ours requires a lot more dedicated work.
@13 You could divest of any stocks you hold by publicly traded Indiana companies as well. Those in your 401ks or other retirement funds. And let me add it was of particular sadness that I observed what appears to be a rabbi at that signing ceremony. How quickly some forget.
There are other states considering similar laws. The immediate boycott sends a message not just to Indiana, but also to Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, etc.
@16 you don’t even have to boycot any states. I plan to tell all the charities that they don’t get another penny from me until they get involved with stopping this madness. If they care about my support for them then they’ll care about thier support for me.
http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....-anti-gay/
Repackaged bigotry
@16 Yes, but those laws aren’t all the same, and Indiana has the broadest and most dangerous law.
Indiana’s “Religious Freedom” Law Explained
Homosexuality is a biological condition. Bigotry is a moral wrong.
19 other states including libtard states Connecticut and Rhode Island have similar RFRA laws… And… http://twitchy.com/2015/03/28/.....te-leader/
@ 21
Of course, you’d be perfectly comfortable with those laws if they had used the words “Black” or Negro” in those laws, amirite?
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@23 You really have to work at it to get censored on this blog.