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Huckabee: Liberals put more pressure ‘on Indiana than Iran’

by Mark Hensch - 04/04/15 11:04 AM ET

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Saturday criticized Americans for expressing greater outrage towards Indiana’s new religious freedom law than President Obama’s Iran deal.

Huckabee said he believes the uproar over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is a distraction from Thursday’s announcement of a tentative framework regulating Tehran’s nuclear weapons research, The Guardian reported.

{mosads}“There’s been more pressure this week to put sanctions on Indiana than Iran,” Huckabee said on CNN.

The 2016 GOP White House hopeful also blamed the Hoosier State’s drama on aggressive elements of the gay community.

“The reason that these corporations put the pressure on Indiana and Arkansas was because the militant gay community put the pressure on them,” Huckabee argued of the business backlash against religious freedom legislation in both states.

Huckabee specifically criticized Apple and Wal-mart for what he called “hypocritical” opposition to religious freedom legislation. He said both companies conducted business overseas with nations far more oppressive than anywhere in the U.S.

“I think these corporations really ought to be consistent — quit making money from these countries that are really oppressing human rights, and quit bowing to the pressure, and just sell their stuff,” he argued of Apple’s business in Saudi Arabia and Wal-mart’s outreach to China.

“That’s what they’re in business for,” Huckabee added.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) on Thursday signed a fix correcting elements of his state’s law that were criticized. The law’s initial passage March 26 sparked accusations it permitted business discrimination for religious reasons.

His alterations now prohibit businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also forbids using the law as legal defense for such practices against protected groups.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) approved a similarly revised law Thursday. He refused to sign the original version Wednesday over concerns it mirrored Indiana’s original legislation too closely.

Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed disapproval for such rules in a Washington Post op-ed published last week. Cook — who is gay — compared the laws to the segregation era’s Jim Crow rules.

“We must never return to any semblance of that time,” he wrote.

Critics say religious freedom laws permit business discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals through religious reasoning.

Their supporters, meanwhile, claim they shield business owners from government meddling in their faith-based decisions.

— Updated at 11:24 a.m.

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