Indiana's RFRA bill has caused a firestorm of controversy in America, particularly among Christian and LGBT activists.
Now, a number of tech leaders are stepping forward to present what they see as a better path. A coalition of 40 leaders in the tech industry banded together to urge states to implement bills that would "provide protections to LGBT people in state civil right laws and explicitly ban denial of services to people" reports Buzzfeed News.
"Religious freedom, inclusion, and diversity can co-exist and everyone including LGBT people and people of faith should be protected under their states' civil rights laws," said the group. "To ensure no one faces discrimination and ensure everyone preserves their right to live out their faith, we call on all legislatures to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to their civil rights laws and to explicitly forbid discrimination or denial of services to anyone."
Affirm CEO Max Levchin organized the group that includes Dick Costelo of Twitter and Paypal and Ebay founders.
This statement was released the same day Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced he planned to submit legislation that would modify Arkansas' RFRA so that it couldn't be used to discriminate against LGBT individuals and matches the 1993 federal RFRA signed by President Bill Clinton.
Readers can access the entirety of the group's statement, as well as the list of signatories, here.
