Tick. Tock. It’s probably just a matter of time before a bill similar to Indiana’s so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act is proposed for the Wisconsin legislative pipeline.
Defenders of the Indiana law say it protects the religious freedoms of business owners who believe that gay and lesbian lifestyles are sinful. Critics say the law violates the civil rights of gays and lesbians by allowing business owners to discriminate against them.
Many large corporations quickly denounced the Indiana law, and several are calling for boycotts of the Hoosier State.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson asked their respective state legislatures to modify their new laws.
Wisconsin may be on the clock. AshLee Strong, press secretary for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s Our American Revival, said, “As a matter of principle, Governor Walker believes in broad religious freedom and the right for Americans to exercise their religion and act on their conscience.”
Walker, a presumptive presidential candidate, is the son of a Baptist minister.
Spokeswomen for Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said a similar religious freedom bill has not yet been proposed in Wisconsin this year.
Kit Beyer, spokeswoman for Fitzgerald, noted that the Wisconsin Constitution already contains a strong freedom of religion clause.
However, with Republicans controlling both legislative chambers, the governor’s mansion and the state Supreme Court, many Capitol insiders presume it will be just a matter of time in Madison, following other Tea Party mandates such as voter I.D., same-sex marriage bans and right-to-work laws.
“In some respects I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already,” said Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. “We would oppose it. This goes too far and would be used to discriminate against people in the public sphere.”
