THE LAST WORD

THE LAST WORD

Indiana. Oh, Indiana. The biggest problem with gay marriage-as people have pointed out over and over-is that creating a constitutional right to same-sex marriage sets up an unavoidable collision between gay rights and religious liberty. For years most gay-rights advocates insisted that this wasn't true even while a small minority of them not only admitted that it was true, but saw this conflict as a feature, not a bug, of the same-sex marriage movement. And so gay marriage has moved with unsurprising swiftness from plaintive appeals for freedom to legal coercion aimed at dissenters. Which is why some people are now trying to shore up the legal protections for religious freedom that, in case you've forgotten, is specifically enumerated in the actual Constitution. For whatever that's worth these days. Enter Governor Mike Pence, who became History's Greatest Monster last week by signing an Indiana law that attempts to buttress religious freedom. For which he earned the bitter disdain of enlightened America, including noted supply chain analyst and legal scholar Tim Cook. (Who, when he's not lecturing Americans about how terrible and bigoted they are,spends his time getting rich by running large parts of his business out of China and pushing his wares in countries where homosexuals are routinely executed.) It's difficult to fully convey the level of hysteria surrounding the Indiana law. It really is amazing to behold, especially because it tends to be entirely devoid of any grasp of either the law or the facts on the ground. But fortunately, my colleague John McCormack has been doing yeoman's work explaining just what's going on. You can start here with his fantastic FAQ on the issue. (Spoiler alert: When Ashton Kutcher and Miley Cyrus are on one side of a con law dispute, you can take the other side pretty much ten times out of ten.) It turns out that the first religious freedom law was passed by notable anti-gay bigot Bill Clinton in 1993 and that another noted bigot-Barack Obama-voted for a similar law when he was a state senator. McCormack also explains why states pass their own versions of this law when there's already a federal law (because City of Boerne v. Flores). And then he goes on to relate a lengthy email exchange with UVA law professor Douglas Laycock, an expert on the case who explains why laws like the one Indiana just passed are (1) a shield, not a sword; and (2) absolutely necessary. And Laycock is a guy who signed a pro-same-sex marriage amicus brief. If you want to see the left's freakout at its most incoherent, had a look at this long clip of McCormack on MSNBC's Morning Joe. McCormack explains legal history and concepts like the balancing test. The people up in arms over the Indiana law have nothing to say but warbling about "The polls! The polls have changed so quickly!" Governor Pence is right. Right on the law and right on the facts. Here's hoping that he sticks to his guns. Best, Jonathan V. Last