[Ashleigh Banfield, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW. He signed the bill. He's proud of the bill. But as you just heard live here on CNN, the embattled governor of Indiana says he now wants to fix that bill that the defenders call a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but the critics call a license to discriminate, specifically against gays and lesbians. In the five short days since Indiana became the 20th state with a law purporting to defend religious faith and practices, the economic backlash alone has been huge. Hoosier companies have threatened pullbacks. Other states have ordered boycotts. The likes of Apple and the NCAA have weighed in negatively. And this would seem to be the result.
[Gov. Mike Pence , Indiana:] I think it would be helpful, and I'd like to see on my desk before the end of this week, legislation that is added to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses a right to deny services to anyone. We want to make it clear that Indiana's open for business. We want to make it clear that Hoosier hospitality is not a slogan, it's our way of life.
[Banfield:] I'm joined now by CNN's Miguel Marquez, who is live in Indianapolis. And, Miguel, I know you've got a special guest with you, but, wow, this blowback was something that the governor said he did not expect, but he is having to deal with it.
[Miguel Marquez, Cnn Correspondent:] Clearly he has caved. It's not a it's not clear how much he has caved or what that fix in this bill will look like. He seems to be talking about something that would include that the that the legislation that they that he signed into law would not surpass federal, state
[Greg Louganis, Olympic Gold Medalist:] Yes.
[Marquez:] You become Olympic gold medalist, of course, and you've become sort of an activist on this issue.
[Louganis:] Yes.
[Marquez:] You were not allowed into the press conference. But what do you make of why is it important to gain lesbians and transgender everywhere, what we're seeing here in Indiana?
[Louganis:] Well, OK, my husband's not from Indy, OK?
[Marquez:] Oh, he's not from Indy, sorry.
[Louganis:] He's from Lafayette. But, you know, it's you know, it's so important to me, you know, that, you know, legislation like this hurts our LGBT and questioning youth. You know, what kind of message are we sending our young people? You know, it's a high rate of teen suicides amongst gay teens and, you know, and, you know, I struggled with this growing up as a gay person.
[Marquez:] The governor says that there will be a fix. I don't know how closely you have followed the minutia of this bill and of what's happening here, but what do you want to see come out of the house and senate here in Indianapolis?
[Louganis:] Well, basically inclusion, you know, that our rights are protected as the LGBT community. You know, I've always felt embraced by Indiana, by Indianapolis. I've been to Olympic diving trials, nationals, Pan American games here. I made my professional dance debut. I don't think it reflects the people of Indiana.
[Marquez:] Do you think Indiana is getting a bad rap in all of this?
[Louganis:] I don't I'm not going to say that Indiana's getting a bad rap with this. I mean something needs to be done. And I think that education needs to happen. Sexual identity is you're born this way. You know, so you're excluding, you know, a portion of humanity.
[Marquez:] Ashleigh, did you have a question for Mr. Louganis?
[Banfield:] I you know, I'd love I'd love to get his reaction to what the governor said or didn't say. I mean a fix, but he wouldn't say what a fix was.
[Marquez:] Yes, he yes, he
[Banfield:] And certainly it's shot Miguel, short of this notion of protection, a protected class for gays and lesbians in the state of Indiana, what could possibly fix this bill?
[Louganis:] I don't know what can fix the bill. I really don't. I mean you do have to include you know, be inclusive that
[Marquez:] Right. Well
[Louganis:] Sexual identity be be in place.
[Marquez:] During the press conference he said he'd accept a fix, but he wouldn't go so far as to include a nondiscrimination clause for gays and lesbians and transgender across Indiana, which is something that activists have asked for, for many years.
[Louganis:] Right.
[Marquez:] I mean, so
[Louganis:] Well, you know what, I you know, I come from California. We have Prop 8. You know, that was you know, that was we had to fight to defeat that so that I can marry my soulmate, Johnny Chailot, be legally married in the state of California. So we've had our issues with, you know, with our own legislation in California. And it appears that that's what's happening here now in Indiana.
[Marquez:] Yes. Ashleigh, anything else?
[Banfield:] No. We're watching this. And clearly, Miguel, great reporting on that. I could hear the questions over and over again, but I kept hearing a lot of the same answers. And I, for one, am dying to find out what this legislative fix will be but so far no answers from the governor, no hints either.
[Marquez:] Well, that's that's the question.
[Banfield:] Yes, that's really it. I mean until we get that, there's there's so little to talk about other than those who are so frustrated.
[Marquez:] And, you know, I asked him during the very last part of the press conference whether he personally believed if individuals who were Christian, they owned businesses, photography, florists, bakers, if he personally believed whether they should be they should have to supply services to gays and lesbians for their weddings, and he again, like over the weekend, he dodged the question. So I think a lot of this is even though he says it doesn't it doesn't discriminate, that Indiana doesn't discriminate, there it comes back to that question over gay and lesbian weddings and how that has really thrown a wrench into the into the
[Banfield:] Yes. And what makes it so different as well from 1993 and for many of the other states, like Illinois, where Barack Obama signed the legislation as well. There was protection for gays and lesbians in Illinois. So it is different. It's not the same.
[Marquez:] It is not.
[Banfield:] And that's frustrating to hear that it's the same. Miguel Marquez, thank you. And our great thanks to Greg Louganis. By the way, huge fan, Greg, of your incredible
[Louganis:] Oh, thank you.
[Banfield:] I mean, wow, I heard Greg Louganis is on the show and I thought I wish I could talk to you about sports, but here we are talking about this instead. Anyway, thanks to both of you for shedding light on this and for trying to work through these complicated concepts as well. By the way, we are working on another very, very important story here. And we are just hours away right now, mere hours away, from a deadline that the whole world is watching for the United States and other countries everywhere. These people have something on the table that it's either signed or it's not signed and it matters. It is a deadline to make a nuclear deal with Iran. If it happens, can President Obama even sell this when he brings it home?