Debate over religious freedom looms ahead

Although many observers hailed Monday's U.S. Supreme Court decision on gay marriage as a boon for equality, debates and legal battles over religious freedom and discrimination based on sexuality remain simmering in Indiana and nationwide.

Socially conservative advocacy groups such as the American Family Association of Indiana and the Indiana Family Institute now plan to focus lobbying efforts on legislation that would protect religious organizations, nonprofit groups and businesses that deny services to gay couples based on religious grounds. Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, said his organization already has spoken with three lawmakers about possibly creating legislation to protect religious liberty in the marketplace.

"This is a Pandora's box," Micah Clark, executive director for the American Family Association, said in a statement after the court's decision Monday. "What does this mean for churches, religious charities, business owners and those tied into the wedding industry?"

The short answer, legal experts say, is not much.

The Supreme Court's decision has no bearing on religious organizations that refuse to wed same-sex couples or private entities that deny services based on religious beliefs. Businesses such as bakeries, reception halls and places that provide wedding photography don't have to do business with gay couples if they don't want to.

Indiana is among a majority of states that lack a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. States including California, Iowa, Nevada and Illinois, have such a statute.

That is not to say a decision by a business to not serve gay couples will go unchallenged.

Jennifer Drobac, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, said private entities could risk losing business and could face a lawsuit.

"The fact that the (Supreme Court) isn't taking these cases to reverse the appellate court is an indication that the appellate court is getting it right," said Drobac, who studies religion and government. "Those businesses that choose to discriminate are basically operating in a manner inconsistent with federal precedential law."

Such litigation and debates already are happening in other states.

In Colorado, a baker was told he could face fines if he refused to accommodate gay weddings. In New Mexico, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a photography studio that refused to photograph a lesbian couple's ceremony. In Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have allowed people or businesses with strong religious leanings to refuse to serve gays.

Experts say they don't know of any pending litigation in Indiana. But earlier this year, an Indianapolis bakery's refusal to bake a cake for a gay couple based on religious grounds created a social media firestorm. In 2010, a cookie shop prompted hundreds to protest and faced a possibility of sanctions after its owner refused to fulfill a gay student group's request for rainbow-iced cookies.

Whether Indiana will join the states that protect homosexuals from discrimination based on sexuality seems unlikely, Drobac said.

Steve Sanders, law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, said the more immediate and obvious effect on private businesses is that they now must provide employment and health benefits to their employees' legal spouses who now can be members of the same sex.

Concerns about future litigation also run high among religious organizations.

"I think there's definitely concerns for people about religious liberty, and people have the right to live the truth that's expressed in their faith without feeling like they're being forced to act against their conviction," said Greg Otolski, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. "You're really talking about changing an institution that's been around and defined in one way for thousands of years."

Otolski said although the government is unlikely to "step in and force a pastor to marry people of the same sex," religious organizations that refuse to do so could open themselves up to discrimination lawsuits.

"How likely it is, I don't know," Otolski said. "But it seems like a possibility. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Star reporters Tony Cook , Tim Evans and Justin Mack contributed to this story.Contact Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @kristine_guerra.