Re: Indiana’s Religious Liberty Uproar
Cal Thomas: “If I visit a kosher restaurant and order a pork chop, am I being discriminated against when the waiter says they don’t serve pork? If an establishment requires that men wear jackets and women dress in what that establishment defines as an ‘appropriate way,’ does that constitute discrimination? When I visit the Vatican, the Swiss Guards won’t let me in if I’m wearing shorts. They offer a cover-up. It is the same for women, if they bare too much flesh. Is that discrimination? What about the sign ‘no shoes, no shirt, no service’? Is that bigotry against the shoeless and shirtless? Should the government force any of these entities to violate their standards? That is the issue in Indiana, the latest front in the culture war. … The uproar about Indiana’s law is political theater. It is also a trap set by the Left, which Republicans risk falling into. It works this way: Find a Republican state (Gov. Pence is a Republican and the legislature is overwhelmingly Republican); pick an issue you can twist to your political advantage – and Republicans’ disadvantage; enlist the help of a gay-friendly media; threaten a boycott of the state by prominent individuals and businesses; use this issue in the next presidential campaign to brand Republicans as racists, bigots and homophobes. In this theater of the absurd, any defense becomes indefensible. The die has been cast; the scarlet letter attached. … One potential good has emerged from this, however. Miley Cyrus has announced she won’t be bringing her ‘twerking’ self to Indiana, which is bound to have a positive effect on the state’s moral climate.”
Tony Perkins: “[L]ost in all of this back-and-forth is the reality that this isn’t about standing up for homosexual rights – it’s about standing up for everyone’s rights. In a civil society, the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. But that’s exactly the problem. America, under this administration, is less and less civil – particularly to men and women of faith. There’s no room for polite debate or even coexistence. Instead, the LGBT movement that once said they didn’t want the government to tell them how to live, now wants the same government to tell us what to believe and punish those who fail to comply. Where’s the tolerance in that?”
Ann Coulter: “Do not assume that because liberals are in an absolute panic over Indiana’s law, they must have a point. To the contrary, the more hysterical they are, the more you should assume the whole story is a sham. … Every single cause championed by liberals is based on a fake story. They make up events that didn’t happen and get apoplectic over things that never will happen. The definition of ‘liberal’ is quickly becoming: people who believe their fantasies should be facts.”