Facing growing protests within his state, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Tuesday launched a drive to minimize the negative fallout from a new state law that critics charge will allow discrimination against gays and lesbians by those acting out of religious belief.
In a television appearance on "Fox and Friends," the conservative Republican governor said the state will clarify the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but did not offer any specifics.
"I stand by this law," Pence insisted in the interview that followed the publication of an editorial he wrote for the conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal.
"I abhor discrimination. I believe in the Golden Rule that you should 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' If I saw a restaurant owner refuse to serve a gay couple, I wouldn't eat there anymore," Pence wrote in the piece.
State leaders have said they will look at the Indiana law to see if it needs clarification. Pence echoed that theme on Tuesday as he tried to repair the damage from days of bad publicity since he signed the measure on Thursday.
"If we have to make adjustments to this law to make it clear ... this law was never intended to create the impression that businesses can turn away customers on the basis of sexual orientation, we are going to fix that," Pence said on television.
Pence has blamed the national media for the fallout, which includes a social media campaign to boycott the state and complaints from top businesses, especially in the tech sector. Even the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., the agency that runs college sports, including basketball, has said it will look at the impact of the law on future sports events.
The state's biggest newspaper, the Indianapolis Star urged lawmakers in a dramatic front-page editorial to respond.
The Star's editorial, headlined "FIX THIS NOW," covered the newspaper's entire front page. The newspaper said the uproar sparked by Indiana's new religious objections law has "done enormous harm" to the state and potentially to its economic future.
It called for a law that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Indiana has anti-discrimination laws, but they deal with categories such as race and do not cover sexual orientation.
Meanwhile in Arkansas, the Legislature prepared to pass a law similar to the one in Indiana and in 20 other states.
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