Friday, May 22, 2015

GenCon Sells Record Number Of Tickets: So Much For RFRA Fallout

It's just more proof that Indiana's image took no real hit from the manufactured news story about RFRA, which was never anything more than a ruse led by the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star to advance the gay rights agenda by falsely claiming the law gave a license to Indiana businesses to discriminate against them in an effort to demonize people of faith and help drive Gov. Mike Pence from office. The annual big convention whose leaders had threatened to move it elsewhere if lawmakers didn't backtrack on the new law has sold a record number of tickets for this year's event at the end of July according to WISH-TV.

Some of us aren't prone to manipulation by mass media propaganda, which is pretty much what you get from mainstream media organizations in this country today. Something our local news media will never report on is just how lavishly Visit Indy and local convention folks wine and dine convention planners to host their conventions in Indianapolis, which basically operate under no code of ethics in the manner in which they are allowed to lobby convention planners. On cue from local officials, a few convention organizers who are very tight with Visit Indy officials played along with the act that they were concerned about RFRA, but they never had any intention of walking away from a city that is so generous with its taxpayer dollars. And that's a story Rafael "Don't Call Me" Sanchez will never report.

14 comments:

Pete Boggs said...

They're now the lame, vain & not so mainstream, medi-ain't.

Here, is the mainstream media.

Anonymous said...

You talk about “advancing the gay rights agenda” like its a distasteful thing. And you talk about “demonizing people of faith” like you’re a conservative evangelical Christian. Are you implying that you are not a gay man, because you sound like every Christian bigot talking to Garrison these days. Since when is pursuing an anti-discrimination law agenda that includes gays so anathema to your personal beliefs. This is something quite ordinary to millions of Americans and Europeans who live with lgbt protections on the books and the sky hasn’t fallen. I know that you’re conservative. Fine. There are plenty of fiscally conservative gays who still recognize the need for anti-discrimination protections. The Republican party could cause gay people to shift right quite dramatically if it would embrace a few equal protections for gays instead of vilifying them at every turn. And the meme which you are becoming quite adept at repeating that gay people are attacking people of faith; you and I both know that churches are full of gay people. You can’t go in any Indianapolis church without finding gay people, and that includes every Catholic church in the county. Despite the hatred coming at the gay community from the evangelical community, the gay community continues to support their local church communities in large numbers. We simply don’t buy into the Fred Phelps “god hates fags” attitude. We all know that the worst form of hypocrite is a closeted gay evangelical Republican, privately enjoying one lifestyle, while publicly voting to hurt the very people he identifies with. You want us to believe that you buy into these evangelical positions so completely that you have no sympathy whatsoever for advancing any gay agenda? On a personal level I find that hard to believe.

Anonymous said...

Of course RFRA had zero effect on the State's image. Only my left of center liberal Democrat thought-controlled LGBT brothers and sisters would buy in to such foolishness. When I think of all those so-called "leaders" from Apple to the jack-ass Mayor Indianapolis suffers with to local gay Councilor to you-name-it who jumped whole hog on to that "everyone in the world has disrespect for Indiana due to RFRA" conestoga wagon train, I have to think the loss of respect was for those persons and NOT for Indiana.

Just like the card carrying idiots bereft of any truthful science who insist global warming is an imminent threat to their life, liberty, and happiness, the anti-RFRA crowd will reject the reality that what they believe to be the case simply is not true.

Anonymous said...

Just like the benefits from DST.

Anonymous said...

GenCon threatened to cancel future events if the bill was not amended, but it was amended, and that made the difference. Just so you remember, there was a weighty list of others shocked and dismayed: The Republican mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, along with four other living mayors of Indianapolis Richard Lugar, William H. Hudnut III, Stephen Goldsmith and Bart Peterson stated they are "distressed and very concerned" at the fallout of the bill.
Mitch Daniels, the former Governor of Indiana and president of Purdue University stated that the university is opposed to any governmental measure that interferes with their anti-discrimination policy. James Danko, the president of Butler University called the bill "ill-conceived legislation at best" and commented "No matter your opinion of the law, it is hard to argue with the fact it has done significant damage to our state." Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University called on the government to "reconsider this unnecessary legislation" and stated "the damage already done to Indiana’s reputation is such that all public officials and public institutions in our state need to reaffirm our absolute commitment to the Hoosier values of fair treatment and non-discrimination."
Nine CEOs from Angie's List, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Anthem Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Cummins, Emmis Communications, Roche Diagnostics, Indiana University Health and Dow AgroSciences called on the Republican leadership to enact legislation to prevent "discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity."
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc. stated he was "deeply disappointed" in the law. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin told CNN opposing the law is "a basic human decency issue," and stated "I'm asking my fellow CEOs to look at how they're thinking about their relationship with the state and evaluate it in terms of the legislation that's getting signed into law." Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman stated “[It] is unconscionable to imagine that Yelp would create, maintain, or expand a significant business presence in any state that encouraged discrimination by businesses against our employees, or consumers at large.” He stated "These laws set a terrible precedent that will likely harm the broader economic health of the states where they have been adopted, the businesses currently operating in those states and, most importantly, the consumers who could be victimized under these laws." Eli Lilly and Company stated that the "outcome on this particular piece of legislation has been disappointing." Warren Buffett stated that if the law "could in any way be prejudicial to gays or lesbians, I’d be opposed to that". Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA, issued a statement expressed concern at how student-athletes, employees and visitors would be treated and stated they "intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce."Bo Ryan, John Calipari, Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski released a statement though the National Association of Basketball Coaches ahead of a Final Four match in Indiana of serious concerns about Indiana, and there were thousands of calls to the National Football League (NFL) and the NCAA to drop Indiana as a venue for major events. Charles Barkley described the bill as "unacceptable" and Jason Collins, and Chris Kluwe oppose the bill. Arn Tellem stated that the bill "codifies hatred under the smoke screen of freedom and jeopardizes all that has been recently accomplished" and called for sports organizers to re-evaluate their short- and long-term plans in the state.” NASCAR stated "We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance."

Gary R. Welsh said...

We deal in facts on this blog, not mythology. It is a fact that more than half of the states had already enacted RFRA laws, which all followed suit after Congress almost unanimously passed RFRA legislation signed into law by President Clinton. It is a fact that a majority of states enacted constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages. Indiana enacted no such constitutional amendment. Nobody organized a boycott of any of the many states which enacted far more anti-LGBT laws than Indiana, which had a defense of marriage law like the vast majority of states and the federal government. What happened in Indiana this year was a classic psyop. You can't play me like you do the ignorant masses. All of those political leaders you name who jumped on the anti-RFRA bandwagon are politicians with long records of personal transgressions that only highlight their hypocrisy.

Anonymous said...

I was at a convention in Cleveland,OH a few weeks ago. One of the convention workers asked me where I was from? When I told him Indianapolis he told me how he agreed with the legislation.

Now, I can tell you how he didn't quite have all his facts correct, but what the media was selling this guy didn't buy.

Hoosier in the Heartland said...

"In the wake of a bitter backlash to Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom Law, the state's Department of Economic Development has engaged a public relations firm, Porter Novelli, to repair its tattered image. The legislation generated furious condemnation from business leaders, politicians and the public, amid fears the law could allow businesses to refuse service to individuals based on the proprietor's religious beliefs. The law was seen as directed at the LGBT community, but many saw its potential to allow discrimination on the basis of gender and race. There followed cancellations of construction projects, business travel, conferences and events."

--From Anne Sweeney's "Indiana’s Image - A Problem PR Can’t Solve" in https://www.hotel-online.com.

You can pretend all you want that the RFRA episode is a tempest in a teapot, but the rest of the world doesn't see it that way.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Gary, for setting Anon 3:37 straight!

Paul K. Ogden said...

Anon 3:37, that fix didn't do anything. All it did was state that RFRA does not override anti-discrimination laws which it has never done anywhere. RFRA never had anything to do with LGBT rights. It was a manufactured media event by Freedom Indiana which simply wanted to score publicity and fundraising. If FI was actually concerned about the bill, don't you think they wouldn't have waited until the very end of the legislature, when the bill was all but on the Governor's desk, to suddenly raise concerns?

The people you cite are less than impressive. They don't have a legal background. They were speaking out of a profound ignorance. You listen to the parade of law professors and you would have heard them say over and over again that RFRA had nothing to do with a "license to discriminate."

Anonymous said...

Indiana probably won't get the respect it deserves until it starts mass beatings of undesirables

Anonymous said...

This tempest didn’t arise from a vacuum. Mike Pence has a long and well documented history of disdain, disgust and hatred for gay community. The reason Mike Pence’s rfra set off shock waves in the gay community was that this man, who had a well deserved reputation for being a homosexual hater, stood on the stage with the leaders of the anti-gay marriage coalition, which had just lost their biggest battle, to announce their new rfra law. Fact: In 2000, Pence stated “Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexuals as a ‘discreet and insular minority’ entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities.” He called for “an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus” and instead advocated that resources be directed towards Conversion therapy programs. He commented that homosexuals should not serve in the military, stating "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion" and in 2010 stated that repealing Don't ask, don't tell would "have an impact on unit cohesion." Pence opposed the 2009 Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. He fought gay marriage as if it was his personal mission from God. This is only the briefest partial list of Mike Pence’s long diatribe against gays, who are well justified in questioning his motives.

Mike Pence was once the fourth highest ranked Republican in the Congressional hierarchy. We know well his stated positions on the subject of gay rights. Whenever Mike Pence speaks on the subject of legislation regarding gays, gays know its an attack that will sting. This is a man who as recently as 2 months ago admitted to the Indiana press that he had never had a gay friend. For those implying that gays were hysterical in their reaction to Pence’s rfra legislation; that is a failure to understand the man’s history. He has never uttered the word gay without it being in the context of opposing the community, and he stood on that stage with every intent of making a political counter-attack against the pro gay marriage community. Take another long look at who else was on that stage. The biggest gay haters in the State. You either support them or you take a stand against them. There is a big picture here. If you can’t see it, then you just don’t get it. Mike Pence couldn’t sell it. Neither can his minions.

Pete Boggs said...

There is no tempest; unless you're willing to consider other than same sex sharia, in currently expanding terrorist controlled parts Middle East, where their sharia non-compliant are thrown off buildings & stoned to death.

There is no tempest here, only a hyperbolic chamber. Here, there is only the inane illogic of those who want to bully Christians; more about those they hate than love.

The underbelly of a bully betrays their cowardice. Notice the bravery deficit within the so called "LGBT community" (community myopically defined in divisive Alinsky terms rather than unbiased jurisdiction); in speaking any truth or responding with any proportion to the bigoted atrocities perpetrated by terrorists whom this "community" is afraid to confront.

Religious freedom is specifically referenced in the First Amendment. All selection or choice, is a matter of exclusion, profiling & discrimination; which the slave tongued, liar language of oxymoronic Political Correctness can't discuss, due to its perverse orthodoxy of anti-intellectual, self mutilation & arrested development.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:37, please take your blow-hard non-sense to Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland or maybe NYC....it don't pass muster here!