Fallout over religious objections law spurs local ordinances
9 hours ago • Associated Press
More than a dozen Indiana communities have adopted ordinances to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity following an uproar over a religious objections law that critics charged was anti-gay.
Experts say the patchwork of protections reflects uncertainty over what cities can do, since state law doesn't include such protections. But they say the local measures could serve as a testing ground for proposals for state-level protections and help advance the issue in next year's legislative session.
"Nobody's really sure how these are supposed to work, with the tension between the right to be free from discrimination and the religious sensibilities of store owners," Indiana University law professor Robert Katz told The Indianapolis Star. "And so it creates sort of a laboratory of different cities and counties trying to calibrate that balance."
Indiana's religious objections law establishes legal guidelines for courts dealing with cases involving religious objections. But critics charged that in its original form, the law would allow people to use their religious beliefs as a legal defense for discriminating against members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/fallout-over-religious-objections-law-spurs-local-ordinances/article_4018809d-89fd-55c1-9efb-068718187f3a.html
