Indiana Religious Freedom Bill

[neshera]

In general, I would totally agree with "no politics" in FIRST, or on teams. But in this case, we can assume there are FRC students who are LGBT. Can a team, or indeed the entire FIRST community, ignore this situation? I am truly unsure.
I would also add that I would prefer NOT for this thread to discuss the merits of the bill itself, or of being LGBT; rather I am curious how an apolitical organization should respond to a political issue that could impact team members.
Also, I should state thatthis is just my question, and should not be taken to have anything to do with my associated team, which was unaware I would be starting this thread.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by neshera

In general, I would totally agree with "no politics" in FIRST, or on teams. But in this case, we can assume there are FRC students who are LGBT. Can a team, or indeed the entire FIRST community, ignore this situation? I am truly unsure.
I would also add that I would prefer NOT for this thread to discuss the merits of the bill itself, or of being LGBT; rather I am curious how an apolitical organization should respond to a political issue that could impact team members.
Also, I should state thatthis is just my question, and should not be taken to have anything to do with my associated team, which was unaware I would be starting this thread.

Fair enough, and I don't think there's anything wrong with starting this thread. Consider this. If we're talking about political activism, I can think of things far more heinous that are going on and affect FRC. Especially now that FRC encompasses multiple countries, should be also be arguing about the Israel / Palestine issue, Chinese human rights violations, censorship, and lack of respect for intellectual property laws, etc? I don't think so.

[neshera]

Tom Line is correct. I don't think we should use FRC to try to affect a national debate on the LGBT/Religious Freedom issue - or any issue other than awareness and support for STEM education.
My question was a bit more practical - what should teams and the IRI do, if anything, to handle bringing LGBT students to Indiana this summer?

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by neshera

Tom Line is correct. I don't think we should use FRC to try to affect a national debate on the LGBT/Religious Freedom issue - or any issue other than awareness and support for STEM education.
My question was a bit more practical - what should teams and the IRI do, if anything, to handle bringing LGBT students to Indiana this summer?

Should teams worry about regionals/off season events in the 30 other states that have the same law (including Illinois)?

The law in no way advocates or legalizes any form of discrimination. The misinformation and hyperbole surrounding this law is ridiculous -- especially in context of similar laws in the majority of states and the federal government.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Should teams worry about regionals/off season events in the 30 other states that have the same law (including Illinois)?

The law in no way advocates or legalizes any form of discrimination. The misinformation and hyperbole surrounding this law is ridiculous -- especially in context of similar laws in the majority of states and the federal government.

Please clarify or provide a source on this for the sake of this discussion.

[Ozuru]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Should teams worry about regionals/off season events in the 30 other states that have the same law (including Illinois)?

The law in no way advocates or legalizes any form of discrimination. The misinformation and hyperbole surrounding this law is ridiculous -- especially in context of similar laws in the majority of states and the federal government.

Right. Look what happened when the GOP in Georgia tried to 'clarify' that their religious freedom measure was non-discriminatory:

During a Georgia House Judiciary Committee debate over the state’s new religious freedom bill, Rep. Mike Jacobs—a Republican!—called anti-gay legislators’ bluff. Jacobs proposed a simple amendment to the legislation clarifying that it must not be interpreted to legalize discrimination. Conservative representatives cried foul, asserting that an anti-discrimination amendment would defeat the purpose of the bill. When the amendment narrowly passed, conservatives quickly tabled the bill, postponing its consideration indefinitely. A religious freedom measure with an anti-discrimination provision, they decided, was not a real religious freedom measure at all.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/03/27/georgia_legislators_admit_religious_liberty_bill_i s_about_discrimination.html

Honestly, if a law requires clarification that it's not intended for discrimination, it probably isn't a good idea to sign it.

[FrankJ]

Is this is an appropriate discussion for CD? That is for the list owner to decide. This is not a democracy.

As for as First is concerned. They already have a code of conduct in place. I think that should be as for as it goes. You cannot be an advocate for everything. First's mission is STEM.

As far as boycotting a state for what a subset of the people in the state think... I am not sure if I see the difference in that and the bill you are trying to boycott.

In terms of the issue. The conflict between individual's free association rights and the non discrimination of another individual is complicated. I am not sure if it lends itself to a polite forum discussion.

[Mike Martus]

I am very proud on how this thread as maintained a very Clear path. All of the current responders have shared some comments that are appropriate to this delicate subject. Delicate only because this subject can "Explode" and go down the wrong path.

As we all know there are some CD Users that are not mature enough to engage in a thread like this.

With that said - YES CD should be free as much as possible from politics, religion and any activity that may be disrespectful in any way to others.

I think it appropriate that the thread be closed at this point.

I trust that our legal system will address any and all issues related to this.