article_snippet.sent: In short --  the government cannot interfere with a person's religious practices unless there is a compelling government interest to do so.
article_snippet.sent: This was in New Mexico, a state with a religious freedom law at the time of the dispute.
article_snippet.sent: Would an Indiana jury side with the company that refused service to a couple because of a couple sexual orientation?
article_snippet.sent: But Holbrook says it is no coincidence that the religious freedom laws became popular at the state level just as the gay rights and marriage equality movement made historic steps.
article_snippet.sent: Many states are using the religious freedom laws to carve out exceptions to allow Christians to deny services to same-sex couples.
article_snippet.sent: We are having an interest in RFRA at the time same-sex marriage is coming forward.
article_snippet.sent: Indiana does not have an nondiscrimination law that protects people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
article_snippet.sent: In that sense, Indiana's religious freedom law is not necessary for those who want to discriminate against gays and lesbians.
article_snippet.sent: Even before Indiana's religious freedom law was passed, if a restaurant denied service to a gay couple, a gay couple might be able to sue, but not for discrimination.
article_snippet.sent: For that matter, there is also no federal law that protects the LGBT community.
article_snippet.sent: According to the Human Rights Campaign, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are sometimes fired, denied a promotion or harassed in the workplace.
article_snippet.sent: And lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people recourse is limited.
article_snippet.sent: With the proliferation of religious freedom state laws, nondiscrimination laws become even more important.
article_snippet.sent: Another hypothetical outcome of the New Mexico case involving the lesbian couple and Elane Photography.
article_snippet.sent: If New Mexico had the same religious freedom law as Indiana, the New Mexico case involving the lesbian couple and the photography studio would have gone to trial.
article_snippet.sent: But New Mexico has a nondiscrimination law that protects the LGBT community, New Mexico and New Mexico would have provided a strong counter-argument to the religious freedom claim.
article_snippet.sent: Or, at the very least, an exception written into the religious freedom bill that protects from such discrimination.