Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday called for changes
to a religious-freedom bill passed by the state’s legislature, after it sparked
an outcry akin to the one that followed a similar law in Indiana from groups
and companies who say it could be used to discriminate against gays and
lesbians.
Mr. Hutchinson, a Republican, asked lawmakers to recall the
bill at a news conference Wednesday morning, saying that its language must make
clear that it isn’t the intent of Arkansas to discriminate. The bill’s
supporters in the state House rebuffed a move by other lawmakers to amend the
bill before passing it Tuesday, saying that the discrimination issue should be
addressed elsewhere.
In Indiana, widespread criticism over the religious-freedom
law, including calls for a boycott of the state, spurred GOP Gov. Mike Pence on
Tuesday to call for an amendment clarifying that the law wouldn’t
permit businesses to deny service to gays and lesbians.
The Arkansas bill, which protects individuals and companies
from state and local laws that infringe on their religious rights, was approved
by a sizable majority of legislators. But a number of large companies—including
Arkansas’ largest private employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Apple Inc.—oppose
it, saying it would result in discrimination. Wal-Mart Chief Executive Doug
McMillon asked Gov. Hutchinson to veto the bill in a statement released Tuesday
on Twitter.
The mayor of the state’s capital, Little Rock, and the
Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, have come out against the bill as
well, saying it would be bad for business. Supporters of the bill say it is
necessary to ensure that the government doesn’t infringe upon citizens’
religious rights, adding that its intent isn’t to discriminate against gays and
lesbians.
The Arkansas measure, like Indiana’s law, is wider in scope
than similar legislation passed in other states and at the federal level, legal
experts say. That is because it broadly defines the exercise of religion as any
action or refusal to act “substantially motivated by a person’s sincerely held
religious beliefs,” regardless of whether those beliefs are central to the
religion in question.
It also allows those who claim to have been grieved to sue
any entity under the law, even if that entity isn’t a part of government. The
law doesn’t apply to employees seeking to file a lawsuit against private
employers or the state’s corrections system.
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