Andreatta: Travel bans to Indiana ring hollow

You mean to tell me that taxpayers have been paying for Rochester and state officials to travel to Indiana on non-essential business?

If that's true, it shouldn't have taken a clueless Hoosier repeatedly hammering his self-destruct button for Mayor Lovely Warren and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to put a stop to the travel.

They banned government-funded junkets to Indiana in response to that state's adoption of a "religious freedom" law that's so impossibly near-sighted that Gov. Mike Pence might be Mr. Magoo in disguise.

But the bans, however well-intentioned, ring as hollow as the inside of Pence's head for a couple of reasons.

First, there's no indication that city or state officials were frivolously frolicking in "Hoosier hospitality." Barring a handful of sporting events, what fun is actually to be had in Indiana? Some towns there don't allow tobogganing, for crying out loud.

The Warren administration couldn't provide details of any trips taken there, nor could the former mayor and lieutenant governor, Robert Duffy, recall a single city worker or Albany staff member ever going to Indiana for business.

Second, the bans make exceptions for certain "essential" travel. In Rochester's case, that includes meeting "existing contractual obligations." In other words, taking a stand isn't worth getting sued for breach of contract.

Isn't being willing to take heat the whole point of taking a stand? Imagine if the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had said, "Fine, I'll march, but if they bring out the tear gas, I'm outta there."

The mayor and governor are right to protest Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which as written is a perversion of the federal law by the same name championed by Sen. Charles Schumer and signed by President Clinton in 1993.

The federal law was adopted in part to protect Native Americans who were in danger of losing jobless benefits because they'd gotten high on peyote, an illegal drug, for religious purposes.

Twenty states have adopted their own "religious freedom" laws, most of which are similar to the federal version.

Indiana's law, though, contains language that applies religious rights to corporations and allows the law to be used in private lawsuits, not just when the government impinges on religious beliefs.

Consequently, Indiana's law could be used as a vehicle for discrimination, particularly by business owners who want to cite their faith as justification for refusing to serve gay and lesbian customers.

That's what Warren and Cuomo rightfully wanted to take a stand against. But declaring a travel ban when so few city and state workers go to Indiana on business smells a bit like grandstanding.

City Communications Director James Smith said the fact that Pence has acknowledged the law needs to be revamped is a testament to the weight of bans declared here and by public officials in other cities and states.

That could be. Symbolic gestures of solidarity can send a powerful message even if they only translate to a mounting public relations nightmare for the offending party.

Speaking of offensive, many New Yorkers have taken to social media to criticize Warren's and Cuomo's bans on nonessential travel to Indiana because they think they apply to private citizens.

"This is America," one indignant person wrote on Facebook. "I will go anywhere I want to in my country."

"I would like to see Cuomo stop me from traveling there!" another post read.

It's essential that these people move to Indiana as soon as possible.

DANDREATTA@Gannett.com

Twitter.com/david_andreatta