Speaker at Indiana law school's annual lecture cancels over state's new religious law
An annual lecture at Indiana University’s law school was canceled because of the speaker’s objections to Indiana’s controversial new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a press release from the school says.
Marcia Greenberger, the founder of the National Women’s Law Center, was going to speak Thursday at the third annual Birch Bayh Lecture at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law. However, Greenberger said in a press statement that she “cannot now, in good conscience, travel to a state that is using the important principle of freedom of religion as a cover to enable discrimination.” The statement, published on the website of the National Women’s Law Center, notes that religion has been used to discriminate against women.
The law has generated national attention, much of it negative, because of critics’ concerns that it permits discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people in the name of religious freedom. Several events in Indiana have been canceled in protest, and the states of Connecticut and Washington have declared they won’t send employees to Indiana.
In response, Indiana legislators passed and Gov. Mike Pence signed new legislation on Thursday to give new protections for LGBT customers, employees and tenants, and the terms “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” appear in the law. However, it neither repealed the religious freedom law nor gave full civil rights protections to gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.
Dean Andrew Klein of the law school said in a statement that he regrets not hearing the talk, but respects Greenberger’s position. He also stressed that the law school opposes discrimination.
“At this law school, and throughout Indiana University, everyone is welcome and valued,” he said. “I join many who are concerned that the resulting national discussion of the new law has had a negative impact on our community.”
Noting that the Birch Bayh lecture had already been rescheduled from a fall 2014 date, Klein said the law school has begun planning for a fall 2015 lecture with another speaker.
