Arkansas and Indiana have been forced to reconsider controversial “religious freedom” laws amid cascading criticism from a broad cross-section of US society and big corporations such as General Electric, Walmart and Apple.
Asa Hutchinson, the Arkansas Republican governor, on Wednesday backed away from signing a bill that critics said would allow discrimination against gays. His reversal came after Mike Pence, Indiana’s Republican governor, responded to a huge outcry by asking the legislature to fix a similar law.

General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt on Wednesday told Mr Pence in a letter that he was “very concerned” about the impact the law could have on GE and its employees, saying: “Diverse thinking from employees with varied backgrounds, styles and experiences results in more effective ideas.”

The Indiana and Arkansas bills have reignited a furious debate about the balance between religious freedom and civil rights. Most of the potential Republican presidential candidates have backed the Indiana law.

John Weaver, a Republican strategist, said the stances of the Republican White House hopefuls might help in the primaries but risked hurting them in the general election. He said the Republican party needed to take on board with more urgency the shifting demographics and social trends in America.

“This is not Dwight Eisenhower’s America any more,” said Mr Weaver.

Mr Hutchinson said the bill was “divisive because our nation remains split on how to balance the diversity of our culture with the traditions and firmly held religious convictions”. On Wednesday, he asked the legislature to craft a new bill that made clear that companies and individuals could not discriminate.

Gregory Angelo, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-gay conservative group, said the Indiana and Arkansas controversy had placed potential candidates in the position of having to answer a question they would rather have avoided because of the complications for the election.

David Fuller's view

This is a very good example of how corporate Autonomies (successful multinational companies) have a positive influence on standards of governance.  

A secondary issue is that Republican presidential candidates who do not attack anti-gay policies, either because of their own beliefs or because they want to win nomination in an intolerant party, have absolutely no chance of then succeeding in a presidential election.