Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday did not walk back his decision when he called for changes in a religious freedom bill after widespread attacks by businesses and gay-rights groups, one of the bill's two Republican co-sponsors told Newsmax.
"He's not backtracking at all," said Sen. Bart Hester, 37, a member of the Arkansas Senate since 2013. "The governor's treating this issue like he does everything that comes before him. He's very pragmatic. He's very fair to all the people involved.
"He's just trying to find something that can make the bill appeal to a broader audience," Hester said. "But at the end of the day, if he can't get that done, he's going to sign the bill."
After a huge outcry by businesses and gay-rights groups,
Hutchinson called for Arkansas legislators to make changes in the Religion Freedom Restoration Act that was passed on Tuesday.
The Republican governor, who had said he would sign the bill, said it did not intend to sanction discrimination based on sexual orientation. Hutchinson said his son Seth was among those who signed a petition asking him to veto the bill.
The law prohibits state and local governments from infringing on someone's religious beliefs without a compelling public interest.
Hutchinson, who took over in January, said the Arkansas Legislature should recall the bill or pass another measure that would bring the bill closer to a 1993 federal religious freedom law.
"This is a bill that in ordinary times would not be controversial," the governor said at a news conference at the state Capitol in Little Rock. "But these are not ordinary times.
"What is important from an Arkansas standpoint is one, we get the right balance," Hutchinson added. "And secondly, we make sure that we communicate we're not going to be a state that fails to recognize the diversity of our workplace, our economy and our future."
The governor's move came after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a similar measure into law last Thursday. Pence said Tuesday that he wanted follow-up legislation to address concerns that the law allows businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Pence had come under heavy criticism by corporations and gay-rights organizations after signing the bill.
In Arkansas, the bill was passed by both the state Senate and the House of Representatives. GOP Rep. Bob Ballinger introduced the legislation in the House.
Republicans control both chambers of the Arkansas Legislature, with 64 of 100 seats in the House and 24 of 35 slots in the Senate. The legislature meets for 70 days.
Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last June backing Hobby Lobby Inc.'s decision to opt out of Obamacare's contraceptive coverage on religious grounds, Hester told Newsmax that he sponsored the Arkansas law to protect residents' First Amendment right to free speech.
"The First Amendment is so important — and the Supreme Court said that every state needed to pass their own religious freedom bills," he said. "The First Amendment is so important to us that I thought it was the right thing to do.
"It was incumbent upon us to take care of that if the government infringed on another business' right in Arkansas."
He dismissed attacks that Arkansas was acting before the high court rules on gay marriage later this spring — and slammed charges that the bill encourages discrimination against gays and lesbians.
"I don't buy it at all," Hester said. "This bill does not provide for or against more or less discrimination. I don't believe in discrimination against anyone, even for their sexual orientation.
"But someone is allowed their freedom of speech and their freedom to decline a message," he added. "They can say no to the message, but not an individual."
He cited, for instance, an atheist baker who is asked to write "Jesus Is Risen" on a cake for a Christian customer. Under the law passed Tuesday, the baker can decline the order.
"A Jewish baker can tell some neo-Nazi that he's not going to put a swastika on a cake," Hester said. "The same way, a Christian baker can say, 'I don't want to do a homosexual wedding cake.'
"That is not discrimination," the senator said. "But if somebody walks in and you say, 'I'm not going to serve you because you're gay,' that's wrong.
"That's discrimination, and they shouldn't do that. If they say, 'I'm not comfortable with making a cake for a gay wedding,' then that's a message. That's a First Amendment right to free speech."
In the end, however, Hester thinks Hutchinson will sign the legislation.
"I have every confidence because his word is good," he told Newsmax. "He's said more than once that he's going to sign the bill.
"A reason why the governor is so popular in Arkansas and is so popular in the legislature is that he cares about everyone involved, even if he doesn't agree with you.
"He's trying to be as fair as he can, to all sides," Hester said. "And that's what those amendments are about: he's trying to be fair."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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