March Madness

Thoughts during the last day of March:

• We live in Michigan--only a few miles from South Bend, Indiana--so we obviously have an interest in what's happening in Indiana. We spend a fair amount of money in the state, so we will examine closely whether we want to continue to do so.
• Governor Pence is either totally clueless or totally dishonest to claim the law was passed without any thought of discriminatory intent. The rhetoric of the supporters and the promoters of the law before and after its enactment states exactly what that intent was.
• The context and timing are important, even if Pence claims naivete about it. Does anyone really question why this particular bill was passed at this particular time in this particular way? The continual citing of the federal law and those other 19 states carries no weight. Most of those laws were not passed against the backdrop of an anti-LGBT agenda like we saw in Indiana. (Not to mention that the Indiana law is even broader--intentionally so--than the federal law and most of the state laws that Pence tries to use for comparison.)
• And lastly, while I am somewhat sympathetic to the businesses, localities, and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce who don't like the bill (or at least the outcry against it), my sympathy only goes so far. Forty out of the fifty state senators are Republican, and the Indiana House also has a huge Republican majority.  These big majorities didn't result solely from the votes of religious extremists. Rather, it is likely that many of these business owners probably voted for the very legislators that passed this law. Similarly, I suspect that the Chamber endorsed more than a few of these legislators. It reminds me of the business groups and "moderate" Republicans on the national level who bemoaned the government shutdown after working so hard to get candidates elected who perpetrated that shutdown. Well, you got the legislature you wanted, so don't be surprised when they do stupid things. The same holds for Indiana. You elected this legislature, now you will have to share in paying the price for that. I'm sorry that I will have to take my business elsewhere, but think about that when you go to the polls next election.