CBS Evening News Misleadingly Compares Indiana's Discriminatory “Religious Freedom” Law To Measures In Other States

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Written by Alexandrea Boguhn

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RFRA reporting

CBS Evening News falsely claimed that “19 other states” have laws similar to Indiana's controversial new “religious freedom” law -- but as both NBC Nightly News and ABC World News pointed out, the state's new legislation is different in its effects, in part, because the state lacks protections for sexual orientation.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) on March 27, providing a legal defense for individuals and business owners who cite their religious beliefs while discriminating against LGBT people.

On the March 30 edition of CBS Evening News, Adriana Diaz reported on the backlash following the passing of the measure, claiming in a March 30 report that “19 other states have similar laws” to the religious freedom law signed by Pence in Indiana" and that “many were passed before gay marriage laws swept the nation.”

But as both NBC and ABC explained during their evening news reports on the newly passed measure, Indiana's “religious freedom” law differs in effect from those passed in several other states because the state lacks protections for LGBT people. As Gabe Gutierrez explained on NBC Nightly News, although 19 other states “have similar laws,” Indiana's “is different, in part because there is no statewide non-discrimination law here protecting sexual orientation.” On ABC World News, network reporter Gio Benitez also pointed to the lack of protections, reporting that “business owners who want to deny services to gay and lesbian couples” may be able to, unlike the situation in other states “with similar laws in place.”

Indiana's RFRA is also much broader than the RFRAs that have been passed in other states, both because of its expansive definition of a “person” and its criteria for determining who can invoke RFRA as a defense in a legal dispute. As the ACLU of Indiana noted, these differences make Indiana's RFRA "virtually without precedent." Even Fox News anchor Brett Baier dismissed the comparison between Indiana's law and other laws across the country. 

This post has been updated for clarity.