When asked whether he supports a
proposed “religious freedom” bill, Republican Louisiana Governor
Bobby Jindal answered that the founding fathers “came down on the
side of religious liberty.”
The bill would allow a private company
that objects to marriage equality on the basis of religion to not
offer the same benefits to a married gay couple. A federal court
last year upheld Louisiana's gay marriage ban as constitutional.
Plaintiffs appealed the ruling to an appeals court, which could hand
down a ruling at any time.
Jindal, a possible 2016 presidential
candidate, made his comments Sunday during an appearance on NBC's
Meet the Press.
“So this is beyond just denying
services as a business,” host Chuck Todd said. “This would also
be denying benefits to an employee who happens to be in a same-sex
marriage. Are you going to be able to support a bill that does
that?”
“I think we can have religious
liberty without having discrimination,” Jindal
answered. “I think it is possible to have them both, and it's
desirable to have them both in our society. We need to remember,
this is a not a new debate. The founding fathers recognized the
importance of religious liberty. They put it in the First Amendment
in the Constitution. They anticipated some of these conflicts. They
came down on the side of religious liberty. Indeed, religious
liberty is why we have the United States. We, as a country, didn't
create religious liberty. Religious liberty created our country.”
Todd then asked Jindal whether he
supports a New Orleans ordinance prohibiting LGBT discrimination in
the areas of employment and housing.
“I don't think, certainly, that there
should be discrimination against anybody in housing and employment. …
The good news is our society is moving in a direction of more
tolerance,” Jindal said. “My concern about creating special
legal protections is historically in our country we have only done
that in extraordinary circumstances. It doesn't appear to me we're
in one of those moments today.”
“I will say this, I think there are
many that turn to the heavy hand of government to solve society's
problems too easily. I think, instead, we need to be working with
people on their hearts and minds. I have faith and confidence in the
people of America, the people of New Orleans, the people of Louisiana
to not tolerate discrimination, to not support businesses that want
to support discrimination. So, absolutely, we need to have a society
where we are not discriminating against people. I do think we need
to be very careful about creating special rights,” he added.