[nfb-talk] Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Michael Hingson mike at michaelhingson.com
Tue Mar 31 20:26:44 UTC 2015


However, this might well become another case for the courts to address which
does in fact set back our rights. If one case occurs where a blind person
with a guide dog is denied access on religious grounds and the Indiana law
is cited as the reason for denial then we have already lost ground. No, such
an open ended law cannot stand. 


Best,


Michael Hingson

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul Wick
via nfb-talk
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 12:33 PM
To: John Heim; NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act

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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