Last month, Indiana passed a strong anti-gay-rights law and it caused a national backlash against the state. So you might think that other states would think twice before doing something similar.
But that logic doesn’t apply to Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana and likely presidential candidate. Instead of thinking twice, he is doubling down.
Jindal has been pushing a “religious liberty” bill that allows people to use religion as an excuse to discriminate against gays. Possibly mindful of what happened to Indiana, the legislative committee considering the bill defeated it by an overwhelming 10-2 vote.
Did that stop Jindal? No, instead he issued an executive order, and publicly announced:
We are disappointed by the committee’s action to return the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act to the calendar. We will be issuing an Executive Order shortly that will accomplish the intent of HB 707 to prevent the state from discriminating against persons or entities with deeply held religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman.
What makes this truly hypocritical is that Jindal has been an outspoken critic of president Obama’s executive order about immigration, calling it “an arrogant, cynical political move”. Jindal also chastised Obama, saying that the president “should go make the case to Congress and our people.”
Sigh.
