RFRAs are pieces of legislation that make it legal for businesses and organizations to refuse service to individuals for personally held religious beliefs. Opponents of the bill claim it is a form of state-sanctioned discrimination, specifically targeting gay and lesbian Hoosiers.
The bill passed as amended in the House on Monday and passed the Senate on Tuesday with a vote of 40-10. It will now be sent to Gov. Mike Pence to sign the bill into law, which he has said numerous times before he would do.
Already, there has been backlash to the bill’s passage.
Gen Con, Indianapolis’s largest convention that ?attracted 56,000 people last year and had an estimated economic impact of more than $56 million, threatened to move the convention to a different city if Pence signs the RFRA into law.
The convention is under contract to hold the conference in Indianapolis through 2020, but spokesperson Stacia Kirby stated an RFRA would affect their decision to remain there in the future.
Daniel Metz
