Indiana's Republican governor Mike Pence has become a punching bag after passing a Religious Freedom Restoration Act on Thursday at a ceremony which was being attended by a number of conservative religious leaders.
Pence just put his hand inside a hornet's nest with the signing of the bill.The Indiana governor's religious freedom law has started a controversial cultural war that has Republican contenders handling questions about sensitive issues which they would not have thought of stirring for a long time.
The law is of double standards in some cases when it gives businesses the permit to refuse to serve homosexual customers.
The Indiana religious liberties law is being viewed as anti-gay. It is true that the law does directly allow businesses to refuse to serve homosexual customers. It has been drafted smartly that this point does not show. Instead, the law allows individuals or corporations facing discrimination lawsuits to claim that serving gays and lesbians "substantially" burdens their religious freedom, according to The New York Times.
With their current position, There is a lot of growing national consensus on gay rights, these issues are leading to the projection of the Republicans as intolerant and insensitive. Republicans also fear that Indiana law is going spark fires that could engulf the party as it is struggling to adapt to the nation's rapidly changing demographics and social changes, according to The Washington Post.
After Pence signed the law bill on Thursday it faced a lot of condemnations. The White House, corporate executives nationwide as well as the likely Democratic presidential candidates Clinton and Martin O'Malley were among the critics.