Indiana Pacers, Fever, NBA and WNBA Issue Statement on Religious Freedom Law

This week Indiana’s Governor Mike Pence signed a bill into law that gives business owners who object to same-sex couples the legal right to deny them services.

Called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the law hasn’t been well received by many organizations that do business in the state, including the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, NBA, and WNBA.

“The game of basketball is grounded in long-established principles of inclusion and mutual respect,” said the four organizations in a joint statement. “We will continue to ensure that all fans, players, and employees feel welcome at all NBA and WNBA events in Indiana and elsewhere.”

Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon also added comments. “The Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, and Bankers Life Fieldhouse have the strongest possible commitment to inclusion and non-discrimination on any basis,” said Simon in a statement. “Everyone is always welcome at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That has always been the policy from the very beginning of the Simon family’s involvement, and it always will be.”

While the NBA and the Pacers don’t directly say they are against the law, the statement indicates that they don’t plan on turning anyone away at the Fieldhouse for their sexuality.

Pacers center Ian Mahinmi posted part of the statement on Twitter to show his support.

Pacers legend Reggie Miller also said that he is “very disappointed” in his adopted state for passing a law that may lead to discrimination.

The NCAA, which is headquartered in Indianapolis and will host the Final Four there next weekend, has also raised concerns, going so far as to imply it will re-evaluate whether or not to have future Final Fours in the state.

NCAA President Mark Emmert voiced his perspective in a statement on Thursday. “The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events. We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees. We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill. Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”

NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is one of many who have called on the NCAA to not host the the Final Four in Indianapolis.

"“Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me,” said Barkley. “As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.”"

The irony that a law meant to allow businesses to operate more freely is also driving business out of the state is biting to say the least. While 18 other states have laws similar to Indiana’s, the Hooiser State currently finds itself in the bull’s-eye of boycotts.

That may seem strange, but when the Arizona and West Virginia legislatures looked into passing similar laws recently, the bills were vetoed by bot states’ governors after public outcry. Unlike Governor Pence and Indiana, they apparently don’t want to send their states back to an era when discrimination was acceptable.

Here is how the recently passed law is worded.

"Religious freedom restoration act. Provides that a state or local government action may not substantially burden a person’s right to the exercise of religion unless it is demonstrated that applying the burden to the person’s exercise of religion is: (1) essential to further a compelling governmental interest; and (2) the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest. Provides that a person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a state or local government action may assert the burden as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding, regardless of whether the state or a political subdivision of the state is a party to the judicial proceeding. Allows a person who asserts a burden as a claim or defense to obtain appropriate relief, including: (1) injunctive relief; (2) declaratory relief; (3) compensatory damages; and (4) recovery of court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees."

Indiana is saying that the government is causing a substantial burden to “a person’s right to the exercise of religion” if businesses are not allowed to discriminate.

But of course there are many other, worse problems that can arise when businesses are permitted to discriminate against whoever they want to and claim religious freedom as the reason why.

What would be the difference if a business owner decided that, due to their own personal faith, serving non-whites violated their freedom or religion? Does the government then need to start stepping in to regulate which beliefs allow people to discriminate? Trying to decide what constitutes a religious belief in a case like this is complex, to say the least.

If this law was being used honestly to protect an individuals religious freedom, then this wouldn’t be so problematic. But it has been clear that the legislature and Governor Pence passed the law to allow people and the businesses they run to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. Pence has dodged direct questions about how the law has been used, but to pretend that it isn’t being passed for any reason other to allow discrimination ignores recent news.

No one should be discriminated on the grounds of race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.