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Indiana Religious Freedom Law No Reason For Big Ten Championship To Leave Indianapolis

By Caleb Calhoun

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Despite the new Indiana Religious Freedom law, the Big Ten and NCAA would be making a mistake to boycott the state in terms of events.

Coaches, athletic directors, conference commissioners, and NCAA officials are all rightfully very concerned about the new “Religious Freedom” bill signed into law in Indiana, according to ESPN. 

The bill, according to some, could potentially allow businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community on religious grounds, although Gov. Mike Pence appears to be denying that.

As a result, many groups are calling for a boycott of the state to make their point.

But it would be a huge mistake for the Big Ten or the NCAA to do the same thing.

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So many events are hosted in Indianapolis, but let’s stick with football. From that perspective, the Big Ten Championship is held at Lucas Oil Stadium every year. If you pull that annual event from that area, think about who you’re affecting.

Yes, you may be pulling money out of the state that passed a bill you didn’t like. But you also would be hurting a city, Indianapolis, that is likely on the other side.

In such a large metropolitan area, it is hard to imagine too many businesses around the sports arenas supporting discrimination against the LGBT community. As a result, it is also very unlikely that many of them would support this law, given that it gives the state a bad name nationally.

These are the people you’re hurting.

Many of them might be able to stay above water simply from the major events in the city throughout the year given the partnership the NCAA and the Big Ten have with the area.

And dare I say that some of those businesses could potentially be run by people in the LGBT community?

For context, the city of Indianapolis voted for President Barack Obama with 60 percent of the vote in 2012. It’s worth noting that 10 of the 15 House members from Indianapolis voted against the bill, which you can see in the roll call on the Indiana General Assembly website.

With those numbers, it becomes a little more clear that while the state of Indiana as a whole may support this law, residents and businesses in Indianapolis likely don’t.

Many other parts of the state, including suburban Indiana are much more conservative, but to boycott the city of Indianapolis for your events boycotts one of the parts of the state that has a strong base likely opposing everything about the law.

Why punish them because they are stuck in a state with so many people they would disagree with?

It is always appropriate to attack discrimination. A part of that, by the way, is making sure to avoid paint brushing an entire group of people because of what you see some in that group doing.

Well, that works both ways. Don’t assume that just because Indiana passed this law that everybody in the state supports it, particularly in one of the more liberal parts of the state.

When African Americans were being discriminated against in the South in the 1960s, boycotting those states would have only hurt the African American community there more.

Rather than boycott, American citizens and leaders across the country went down to those states to march.

The same will be true for the LGBT community in 2015. Protest. Speak out. Make your case.

But do not boycott.

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