“The Kansas Legislature should never advocate discrimination of any kind based on a perceived notion of religious freedom,” Hensley said in a statement. “While we believe this bill may have been brought with good intentions of protecting religious freedom, the unintended consequences far outweigh the good,” said Tom Witsman, president of the Wichita Independent Business Association. "It won’t be immediately, but we’ll be working on it.” 
 
 House Bill 2453 passed the House on Wednesday, and by Friday morning a slew of business interests had weighed in against it. “Equality Kansas proposed amendments in the House that we believe would have made the bill more acceptable, and if the Senate chooses to move forward with hearings, we look forward to working with them to draft language that will protect the religious liberties of all Kansans, while at the same time ensuring the dignity of gay and lesbian couples across the state,” Witt said. Rep. Emily Perry, D-Mission, said during a committee hearing she worried that a portion of the bill was so broad it could allow police officers to refuse to respond to domestic abuse calls involving gay couples. Looking at this bill, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it a close cousin—if not sibling—of Jim Crow (natch, for black gays and lesbians in the state, there’s little difference). The Kansas bill would bar legal action — government sanctions or civil suits — for people who refuse to provide services relating to marriages or civil unions that are contrary to their faith. It would allow someone employed with the government or “nonreligious entity” to invoke their faith as a basis for not providing service. Much of the heat has fallen on Rep. Charles Macheers, R-Shawnee, who carried the bill on the House floor. “The ACLU is pleased to hear that (Wagle) saw this bill for what it is,” an effort to legalize discrimination in Kansas, said Holly Weatherford, Kansas advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union.
– A controversial bill in Kansas that gives individuals and businesses the right to refuse service to gay people on religious liberty grounds looks to be doomed, reports the Kansas City Star. The measure—read it in full here—passed the Republican-controlled House and immediately triggered howls of protest from around the nation. In the Daily Beast, for example, Jamelle Bouie writes that it's not a stretch to liken it to Jim Crow laws. "Like its Southern predecessors, this proposal is meant to isolate and stigmatize a despised minority, under of the guise of some higher priority ('religious liberty')." But the measure doesn't appear to have a chance in the state Senate. Its Republican president, Susan Wagle, said that while her members "support laws that define traditional marriage," they "don't condone discrimination." What's more, the state's business community also sided with opponents, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal, which says the legislation will have to be "substantially reworked." (In Virginia, meanwhile, a judge struck down the state's ban on gay marriages.)