[nfb-talk] Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act

[Paul Wick]

Hi John,

The reason that this law can't be used against blind people or racial/ethnic minorities is because those are classes already protected by Indiana law against discrimination. The whole issue with this law is that in Indiana GL BT people are not a legislatively a protected class. It has been the NFB position since at least the 1970s not to take positions on issues not directly effecting blind people as a group. Besides, the large numbers of Mormons and born-again Christian's in the Federation make such a discussion unlikely.
Best,
Paul

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 31, 2015, at 12:11 PM, John Heim via nfb-talk <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> The NFB should issue a statement condemning Indiana's religious freedom act.
> 
> I've been discriminated against in my life. I once was  turned down for a job because the person who did the interview literally would not believe that a blind person could use a computer. I'd been working as a programmer and systems administrator for 15 years at that point. Another time, I actually diagnosed a network problem during the job interview. I plugged my laptop into the network, ran some diagnostics, and explained what the problem was right there during the interview. But I didn't get that job either because they said part of the job was drawing images for their web site. Admittedly, It's debatable whether that second example is discrimination. In fact, I personally would not call it discrimination but people I've mentioned it to have felt otherwise. The point is that I know what it's like being turned down for a job because of something you can't control.  I know what it's like when that happens to you when you're worried about having health insurance for your family and making the house payment.
> 
> I remember coming home from the job interview where I diagnosed the network problem, dancing around and telling my wife I'd nailed it. I remember the feeling I got a few days later when she read me the rejection letter that said they really needed someone who could see. I said it was their loss and tried to believe it. But we really needed our health insurance.
> 
> Now you have a bunch of lawmakers in Indiana telling us it's okay for someone to turn a person down for a job because they're in a gay marriage. Most of those lawmakers in Indiana have probably never been discriminated against in their lives. They don't know what it's like.
> 
> What they are doing is just wrong. And even if you don't agree, we in the NFB need to stand  up against discrimination in all of it's forms. This law is intended for use against gays but there's no reason it can't be used against racial minorities or even disabled people.
> 
> We have to add our voices to those who have come out against this law. It's the right thing to do.
> 
> 
> -- 
> John Heim
> john at johnheim.com
> 
> 
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