Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

I’ve been on vacation/sick as a dog for the past week, and a ton of topics have stacked up, but this Indiana…thing…has taken up all my thinking time and must be addressed first.

If you’re not aware, this week, Indiana’s governor Mike Pence signed a law that will allow businesses to turn away anyone if serving that customer would place a “significant burden” on the business owner’s religious beliefs. Setting aside its incredibly vague and non-quantifiable language, the context and timing of this bill–as well as that of similar laws/bills in nineteen other states–is squarely aimed at allowing businesses to discriminate against members of the LGBT community. In the wake of the SCOTUS Hobby Lobby decision, so-called “religious freedom” is being used as a holy cudgel with which to beat secular society over the head, and give religious zealots carte blanche to foist their particular beliefs on non-believers.

Here’s the thing: You have a right to your religious beliefs–undoubtedly and without question–but you do not have a right to run a business in any way you see fit. Your faith is your own, but your business is a secular enterprise, and if it is open to the public, that’s with whom it must treat: the public.

All of the public. Not just the part of the public you like. (more…)

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