Arkansas Passes Indiana-Style 'Religious Freedom' Bill Criticized as Anti-Gay

By Jessica Glenza, Guardian UK

01 April 15

State ratifies Religious Freedom Restoration Act that critics see as a way to discriminate against gay and lesbian people under the guise of religious freedom

he Arkansas state legislature has passed an Indiana-style religious freedom bill Democrats say “authorizes discrimination”, defying international outrage that hours earlier forced the governor of Indiana to walk back a similar law decried by the world’s leading companies and LGBT activists as anti-gay.

Despite heated debate among Arkansas’ legislators, who acknowledged increasing public anger brewing over such religious freedom laws sweeping statehouses, the Republican-dominated House passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Tuesday. Whether or not Republican governor Asa Hutchinson signs the bill, also known as HB1228 or RFRA, it is likely to go into effect within the week.

Similar legislation sparked outrage in Indiana after Governor Mike Pence signed the Hoosier State’s own RFRA bill into law. The law’s opponents see the measures as an indirect, legal way to discriminate against the LGBT community under the guise of religious liberty.

In the tense moments before the bill’s passage, lawmakers opposing the bill hoped to return it to committee, possibly to add anti-discrimination protections for LGBT citizens. However, the motion failed.

“I think everyone in the room is aware that this bill has attracted a lot of attention,” said representative Clarke Tucker, a Democrat from Little Rock. “I don’t believe it’s attracted that attention because it seeks to protect religious liberty. ... I do believe it’s attracted a lot of public attention because it creates the perception that it affirmatively authorizes discrimination.”

Arkansas’ senate passed the bill on Friday, as Indiana’s law was just being enacted, and Arkansas’ bill was recommended for passage by the house judiciary committee on Monday. Members of the Arkansas house concurred on three amendments sent from the senate and moved the bill to Hutchinson’s desk on Tuesday.

Like Indiana’s law, HB1228 allows individuals, businesses, corporations and associations to file claims under the law – a significant departure from federal legislation upon which the laws are based, first signed into law in 1993 by Bill Clinton. That law was enacted after federal laws limited some Native Americans’ ability to use peyote in religious ceremonies.

“I can tell you what is similar to Indiana,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas executive director Rita Sklar. “[HB1228] can be used in litigation between two private parties, and it can be used to challenge likely burdens on religious exercise – meaning it doesn’t have to actually happen yet.”

Part of the outrage around such legalese is timing. A new wave of laws has emerged since same-sex marriage has increasingly become the law of the land. Indiana was the 20th state to pass such legislation, and the seventh since 2003.

On Tuesday in Indiana, Pence pledged to move forward new legislation to “clarify” that state’s RFRA law, after intense pressure from local and international rights groups, local and international media and business leaders from the CEO of Apple and beyond.

“Clearly, clearly, there’s been misunderstanding and confusion and mischaracterization of this law and I come before you today to say how we’re going to address that,” the governor said, as calls for reform mounted, including a full, front-page editorial by the Indianapolis Star.

Unlike Indiana’s law, which becomes effective on 1 July, the bill passed by Arkansas’ legislature would become effective immediately because of an emergency clause.

Demonstrations quickly formed around government buildings and among local leaders. The mayor of Little Rock denounced the legislation on Tuesday, and the Little Rock caucus spoke out against the bill on Tuesday.

Arkansas-based Walmart, the largest private retail employer in the US, said it opposed the bill.

“We feel this legislation is counter to this core basic belief and sends the wrong message about Arkansas, as well as the diverse environment which exists in the state,” the company said in a statement.

Echoing an editorial by Apple’s Tim Cook, the Little Rock-based technology company Acxiom sent a letter to Hutchinson urging him to veto the law.

“We are not alone in our belief that the law is a deliberate vehicle for enabling discrimination against the LGBT community,” Howe said in the letter. The law, “effectively reestablishes that shameful period before civil rights, when some used religious beliefs as a thinly veiled justification for discrimination against our fellow citizens.”

Some Democratic senators expressed similar sentiments when the bill cleared that chamber.

“Having grown up in the south … I know religious freedom has meant that slavery was OK,” said Democratic senator Linda Chesterfield of Little Rock. “It has meant that Jim Crow was OK. It has meant that it was OK to keep people from achieving that which they deserved.”

Democratic representative Eddie L Armstrong of North Little Rock cited the RFRA bill’s “economic burden” during debate on Tuesday.

“Several members of cross-party lines have vehemently tried to talk to [sponsor] representative Bob Ballinger, to speak to our governor, and to share our thoughts on amending this law,” said Armstrong. “The [economic] result of this law could be pretty tough.”

Hutchinson, a first-term governor and conservative stalwart, said on Monday he would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk. But in Arkansas, if a governor takes no action on a bill for five days, it becomes law. To stop the bill, Hutchinson would need to take action against it, rather than sit on the sidelines.

Hutchinson did exactly that – nothing – when another Arkansas law viewed as anti-LGBT passed through the state legislature in February. The general assembly passed a bill barring counties and municipalities from creating new protected classes, a provision to stop cities from passing LGBT protections, to promote what supporters called “legal uniformity”.

The law, the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act or SB202, passed after Fayetteville, Arkansas, attempted to pass anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community. The measure was later repealed through a referendum, but Republican state senator Bart Hester of Cave Springs was compelled to write not only SB202 but also the HB1228.