Arkansas governor seeks fix of religion bill seen as targeting gays – Reuters

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) – Arkansas Governor Asa
Hutchinson told lawmakers on Wednesday to revise a bill that
rights activists and U.S. businesses said allowed discrimination
against gays, and home-state corporate giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc
praised his action.

Indiana’s governor a day earlier said lawmakers should fix a
similar Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). After it was
enacted last week, the state was hit with protests, threatened
boycotts and warnings from powerful U.S. firms of pending
economic damage for being seen as standing against U.S. ideals
of inclusion.

In a news conference at the Capitol in Little Rock,
Hutchinson, who previously said he would sign the bill, said he
was sending the act back to the Republican-controlled
legislature to be rewritten so it can better balance tolerance
for diversity and protections of religious freedom.

“We want to be known as a state that does not discriminate,
but understands tolerance,” Hutchinson said. “We just didn’t get
it perfect through that legislative process.”

The governor said his own son had asked him to veto it,
adding a personal element to the pressure to reject the bill.
While Hutchinson spoke, scores of protesters outside waved the
rainbow flag of the gay rights movement.

Hutchinson, who is 64, recognized a generational divide over
same-sex marriage.

“The issue has become divisive, because our nation remains
split on how to balance the diversity of our culture with the
traditions and firmly held religious convictions. It has divided
families and there is clearly a generational gap on this issue.”

A day earlier, Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, called
on Hutchinson to veto the bill. On Wednesday, it commended his
decision and, in a Twitter post, urged lawmakers to “make
certain any legislation does not encourage discrimination.”

About 40 technology industry leaders, including the CEOs of
Yelp, Twitter, AirBnB, Cisco Systems
and PayPal, joined the debate with a statement calling on state
lawmakers to approve civil rights protections for members of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

In Indiana, Republican lawmakers met LGBT leaders to see how
they could modify the new law to protect their community from
potential discrimination. The rewritten law could be ready as
early as Thursday, said Tory Flynn, spokeswoman for Indiana
House Speaker Brian Bosma.

DAMAGE CONTROL

Twenty U.S. states and the federal government have RFRAs,
which allow individuals to sue the government if they believe
their First Amendment religious rights have been violated.

But those in Indiana and Arkansas go further than all but
one of the state laws, allowing lawsuits between private
parties. That raised the possibility that businesses such as
florists could use the law as a defense if they are sued for
refusing to provide services for same-sex weddings.

Texas is the only other state with a similar provision but
its law contains language that it cannot be used to undermine
civil rights, legal experts said.

Hutchinson said he was asking lawmakers to bring the
Arkansas RFRA in line with the federal one, which does not
include the language on lawsuits between private parties.

“If we fix it now, it is probably a week’s worth of repairs
to Arkansas’ image. If we don’t, it is a black eye that is going
to be a long time healing, if ever,” said Randy Zook, president
and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.

Critics see the crafting of the bills in Arkansas and
Indiana as a push-back against the expansion of gay-marriage
acts to most states last year.

Supporters of the Indiana and Arkansas bills argue that
courts hearing religious freedom cases will ensure a balance is
struck between religious freedom and anti-discrimination.

Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council, which
supported the state’s bill, said he was disappointed.

“I fail to see why the bill needs to be amended. It’s been
thoroughly vetted,” he said.

While Wal-Mart has pushed for a veto, Jim Walton, one of the
world’s wealthiest people and a member of the Walton family who
own a majority of Wal-Mart’s stock, have made contributions to
the Council, public records show.

According to the National Institute on Money in State
Politics, Walton family members have contributed $12,000 to
Hutchinson and $75,000 to the Council since 2004.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis, Suzannah
Gonzales in Chicago and Lawrence Hurley in Washington, D.C.)