Indiana Doesn't Want Me

[East]

Even if you don't get the song reference...

I just posted a response in another thread and I think it deserves it's own....

If you don't know...Indiana is the latest addition to a new trend of Republican led efforts around the country to once again enshrine discrimination against gay people in their state's constitution...and the backlash is swift and major. The backlash was the reason Jan Brewer in Arizona did not sign the same bill Mike Pence in Indiana DID sign....

Let's not forget that Indiana is a hotbed of the Ku Klux Klan...25%-30% of white males in Indiana were once members...and The John Birch Society was born in Indiana...so this is just a natural progression ....their state's legacy....

What I wrote in another thread when someone said they were proud of Indiana:

They are actually going WITH a new trend...one of many Republican led efforts around the country currently in motion to allow and promote discrimination against gay people.

..and if you are proud of them....do note the Governor is backtracking already as his state faces losing high tech jobs and contracts ...and the pressure is mounting. He is "looking into" a bill to "explain" this bill LOL...he can take a page from Georgia if he REALLY wants to do that...and it killed the Georgia Bill for now...same in Oklahoma. ....

I hide it now a lot...but I have always been a political junkie and I read a lot and follow pretty much everything political. The Republican shills finally burned me out with their endless talking points and drivel as far as talking politics on the internet though...long ago. If you want to know what Georgia and Oklahoma did...

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/03/27...ous-death/

http://www.bustle.com/articles/70597-okl...egislation

Let's see how well Mr Pence is paying attention.

A lot of companies do not want to do business in a state that will discriminate against some of their employees or attendees.

It is funny...him and so many of the people who are trying to defend the bill claim they don't discriminate...and yet..they are on record saying they DO discriminate and are proud of it. Uh...I guess they think enough people won't notice...or make connection?
__________________________________________________________________

So...are you proud of them? Would you go to Indiana on business or for pleasure knowing they can refuse you service? Companies from Angie's List to Apple have stood up against this law...would you be more likely to support companies and individuals who took the time to stand up to this kind of discrimination?

[Hardheaded1]

It is wrong to discriminate against gays. The Klan is past, not present. If we want to tar a state with its legacy as proof of its current unworthiness, then every state in the union has some heinous past or offense that could damn it were it the status today.

Indiana's bill is bad, not Indiana. People make bad and selfish laws every day.

Nothing good can be said of the anti-gay initiatives, but that isn't the entire state, nor is it all there is to Indiana.

Your own California, supposedly the most progressive state in the union, passed Prop 8 as recently as 2008. Apparently you and a host of gay men did not flee the state nor did the Apocalypse rush in.

Campaigning against bad laws and evil men is a noble calling.

Lambasting an entire state and people is nothing more than gratuitous, simplistic, and bigoted. Who needs a Klan when you can just be bigoted openly without it?

[East]

The California bill was ill written and even so...I would have appreciated any attempt to force a change...

In Indiana and every single other state doing this now...it is Republican legislators making a law that insures discrimination against it's own citizens..and visitors to their state. They did the same with black people and the same but equal fountains...seats on the bus...where they could and couldn't eat...and the same religious people INSISTED the Bible gave them the right to treat them as inferior....

The signs used to read BLACKS AREN'T ALLOWED!...NO BLACKS....BLACK WATER FOUNTAIN....

IF states are insisting on doing this...I want to see the signs that say WE WILL NOT SERVE GAYS....NO GAYS ALLOWED....

BTW...the PEOPLE of that state ELECTED the PEOPLE who wrote these laws. YES...they ARE responsible. It is not simplistic or bigoted to hold them accountable. We get the government and laws we ask for...and allow.

[East]

One more thing...the Klan is NOT past...it is very present. The Southern Poverty Law Centers keeps track of them and other hate groups...today...and the ones that are active:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/in...ate_groups

[princealbertofb]

You are right to point all these traits out, @East. I'm glad someone's keeping track. So easy to think (or say) they're discriminating against ThisThatOrTheOther, I don't really care because I'm not ThisThatOrTheOther. Let them take them away, jail them, kill them, torture them. ThisThatOrTheOthers are not ME. One day they come for YOU and there is not one ThisThatOrTheOther around to defend YOUR ass. And the others, just like you once did, don't give a damn about YOUR ass. Looking after everyone's liberties is a way of making sure we can all enjoy them for as long as possible.

[LJay]

I feel shame for my fellow Hoosiers today.

I grew up in Indiana and was taught not to hate. Hardheaded is right that it is not everyone, but still I feel shame.

[princealbertofb]

It is wrong to discriminate against gays. The Klan is past, not present. If we want to tar a state with its legacy as proof of its current unworthiness, then every state in the union has some heinous past or offense that could damn it were it the status today.

Indiana's bill is bad, not Indiana. People make bad and selfish laws every day.

Nothing good can be said of the anti-gay initiatives, but that isn't the entire state, nor is it all there is to Indiana.

Your own California, supposedly the most progressive state in the union, passed Prop 8 as recently as 2008. Apparently you and a host of gay men did not flee the state nor did the Apocalypse rush in.

Campaigning against bad laws and evil men is a noble calling.

Lambasting an entire state and people is nothing more than gratuitous, simplistic, and bigoted. Who needs a Klan when you can just be bigoted openly without it?

But what laws do, and in particular state laws, is force everyone living under their influence to comply or be a "criminal". So maybe they don't need a Klan, but at the same time enshrining bigotry or hatred or segregation in a law forms the groups that will abide by the law and enforce it. I guess you just had to make a personal move to become a Klansperson, or be co-opted in by another member, but now it's even worse, you don't have to do much, just belong to the state or visit the state and have to follow the rules or else you're a lawbreaker. So what, exactly, was your point, @Hardheaded1? Live and let live?

[East]

I feel shame for my fellow Hoosiers today.

I grew up in Indiana and was taught not to hate. Hardheaded is right that it is not everyone, but still I feel shame.

I understand...I felt shame when California elected Ronald Reagan...and then inflicted him on the rest of the country.

I also feel personally responsible on some level for everything my state and the country does in my name. I participate in the process fully and inform myself and I understand that on some level...any state that successfully promotes discrimination and passes legislation to do so means that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too many people were silent...and they are definitely responsible as an individual...and as a group.

Now that it is hitting their pockets...not so silent....and that is good. Whatever it takes....

[trywait]

money talks. if a business doesn't want my money, I will go somewhere else.

also, I do believe that businesses have the "right to refuse" service. you can decline my business. i'll just find someone else who wants it though.

[East]

money talks. if a business doesn't want my money, I will go somewhere else.

also, I do believe that businesses have the "right to refuse" service. you can decline my business. i'll just find someone else who wants it though.

I think that business can reserve the right to refuse service because of the behavior of the person...but not because of WHO they are....

Some states have laws in place that prohibit discrimination based on many things...including sexual orientation. Indiana isn't one of them.

In the absence of any kind of legal protection...I propose that ANY BUSINESS who does NOT want to serve gay people in a state that has sanctioned this post a sign that is visible so that gay people.... and anyone else....can choose to go elsewhere.

If they feel strong enough about it to make it a law...they need to OWN IT! If they are ashamed to own it...they need to rethink it.