Companies rush to ditch business in Indiana over ‘Religious Freedoms’ bill
By Nick Bond
The governor of Indiana Mike Pence has this week signed the controversial anti-gay “religious freedom” bill, allowing businesses across the US state to deny service to gay and lesbian customers based on religious beliefs.
However, the backlash against the signing of the bill has already swung into action, with several American businesses today announcing they are re-evaluating their business ties to Indiana in the wake of the decision.
CEO of computer company Salesforce, Marc Benioff took the most decisive action, taking to twitter to announce that his company is “cancelling all programs” that require travel to Indiana, and calling on other CEOs to take similar steps:
Today we are canceling all programs that require our customers/employees to travel to Indiana to face discrimination. http://t.co/SvTwyCHxvE
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) March 26, 2015
Attention Tech CEOs/Industry: pay attn to what is happening in IN & how it will impact your employees & customers. http://t.co/SvTwyCZ8nc
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) March 26, 2015
The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) posted a statement on their website, saying they are “deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events. We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees. We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill. Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”
In a written statement released when signing the bill in a private ceremony, Governor Pence said:
“Today I signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because I support the freedom of religion for every Hoosier of every faith.
The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action.”