the arkansas house  of representatives on tuesday passed a religious freedom bill  similar to one recently approved in indiana, landing the contentious issue on republican governor asa hutchinson's desk hutchinson has said he'll sign the measure, even though he's facing protests from activists who say it could open the door to discrimination against  gays and lesbians like indiana's new law, the arkansas measure aims to keep the state government from forcing  business owners to act against their religious beliefs, but  critics say it will be a 'license to discriminate' by refusing service to  gays and lesbians concerns about wedding vendors who have religious objections to playing a part in same sex ceremonies have driven most of the controversy scroll down for video  hoosier 20: arkansas will take the religious liberty firestorm baton from indiana as soon as gov asa hutchinson signs his state's new law  gov hutchinson, a former us congressman who earned his college degree from the evangelical bob jones university, says he'll sign the bill  'this legislation doesn't allow anybody to discriminate against anybody, not here,' republican state rep bob ballinger told the washington post on tuesday 'the bill does just the opposite' surrender: indiana gov mike pence walked back his state's new religious freedom law on tuesday, saying he would work with lawmakers to 'fix' it  ballinger, an attorney in private practice, sponsored the bill he said the legislation 'focuses on the civil rights of people believing what they want to believe, and not letting the government interfere with that' but he said he agrees with indiana gov mike pence, who has been fighting a tide of resentment after he signed a similar bill into law, that 'there needs to be some clarity in the perception of the legislation' 'as it sits right now,' he told the post, his bill is 'not going to enable a person to discriminate' final approval came when the arkansas house overwhelmingly  concurred with three amendments added by the senate, which  approved the bill last week little rock mayor mark stodola has asked hutchinson to veto  the bill, saying in a letter on tuesday the legislation is  unnecessary and could hurt the state's economy 'any piece of legislation that is so divisive cannotpossibly be good for the state of arkansas and its people withthese kind of 'wedge' issues,' no one is a winner on either side,' he said supporters said the law does not allow for discrimination  and is needed to protect religious freedoms the little rock regional chamber of commerce said it is 'bad  for business and bad for arkansas' democrats said it will allow  for bigotry 'our history will tell us that when religion is used as a  sword it is often used to attack people of color and women,' said representative eddie armstrong, an african american and  democratic floor leader arkansas based retail giant wal mart stores said the bill sends the 'wrong message' about its home state the outcry over the indiana law was so fierce that the  state's governor, republican mike pence, on tuesday said he  would 'fix' the legislation to make it clear businesses  cannot use it to discriminate against same sex couples earlier in march, a senate approved religious freedom bill in georgia was put  on hold after a house member added anti discrimination language on monday, north carolina's governor said he would not sign similar language into law because it would allow government  officials to refuse to perform marriages on religious grounds if enacted, the arkansas proposal would prohibit state and local governments from infringing on a person's religious beliefs without a 'compelling' reason but unlike in indiana, arkansas lawmakers said they will not modify their measure sponsor: arkansas gop state rep bob ballinger watched the votes come in to support an amended versio nof his religious freedom bill in the state legislature on tuesday; he says the measure isn't discriminatory  veto! hundreds of protesters yelled their demand that the governor turn away the religious freedom restoration act, but christians in the state house and senate prevailed and the governor will enact the law  over the past two days, hundreds of protesters filled arkansas' capitol to oppose the measure, holding signs that read 'discrimination is not a christian value' and 'discrimination is a disease,' and chanting 'shame on you' at ballinger sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in arkansas' anti discrimination protections last month, hutchinson allowed a measure to go into law that prevented local governments from including such protections in their anti discrimination ordinances this time he intends to affix his signature and make it the law of the razorback state 'i have said if this bill reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states then i will sign it,' the governor said monday 'but i am pleased that the legislature is continuing to look at ways to assure balance and fairness in the legislation'
arkansas asa hutchinson wal mart christians
arkansas gov asa hutchinson says he'll enact the new setting his state up to be the next target of protests and business boycotts . wal mart is against the measure, which critics say creates a license to discriminate against gays and lesbians through the fig leaf of religion . christians who run wedding related businesses had complained of being forced under threat of lawsuits to sell services to same sex couples . sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in arkansas' anti discrimination protections