Huge backlash against the Indiana's "religious freedom" law.

Republican lawmakers in Indiana seems baffled at the backlash against their new "religious liberty" law.   They point to the fact that the law in fact does not call for discrimination.   No, but it allows it and provides the defense for doing so.

It is so obvious to most of the country that this bill was motivated by the anticipated June ruling by SCOTUS on marriage equality.    Opponents to marriage equality want laws that allow people in the wedding business to refuse services to same sex couples.   It's that simple.

Gov. Mike Pence's pitiful performance on This Week on Sunday had to be one of the most painful few moments of his political career, when George Stephanopolis asked him six times for a yes/no answer to the question of whether it was now legal in Indiana to discriminate against gay and lesbian people.   He never did answer.

It may be that the legislators who actually sponsored this bill didn't know what they were doing, but that's hard to believe such niavete in this day and age -- when news about this from other states has been so loud over the past year.    Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a similar bill in Arizona last year, because of the great outcry from corporations and from conventions set to boycott the state.

The backlash in Indiana has been even larger and more immediate than Arizona.  Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, Apple, Walmart, Yelp, Salesforce, Angie's List, Eli Lilly, as well as dozens of Indiana-based companies.    Duke University, set to play in the Final Four in Indiana Saturday has criticized the law, affirmed its commitment to equality for all, and said it will be closely monitoring how its team is treated.   Connecticutt and Washington are both barring any state-funded travel to Indiana.  Rock band Wilco has cancelled a concert.

The early edition of the Tuesday's Indianapolis Star newspaper has a strongly worded editorial, beginning with a bold headline taking up 2/3 of the front page:   "FIX  THIS  NOW."

It goes beyond calling for fixing this bad law, however, and demands passage of a law to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, education, and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Ralph