INTERFAITH ALLIANCE STATE OF BELIEF

RADIO MAY 23, 2015

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: JOHN DENISON
Click here for audio
[REV. DR. C. WELTON GADDY, HOST]:
This week, Louisiana governor and presumed presidential candidate
Bobby Jindal signed an executive order designed to Prevent the
state from discriminating against persons or entities with deeply held
religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman.
This after the Republican dominated state legislature decided against
a so-called religious freedom restoration act with a similar premise.
Now look: I'm fully aware that it may come across at times like I'm
more focused on Jindal than is healthy; but living in Louisiana, I get to
see this stuff up close! And I sincerely believe that it's less about the
specific actions of a particularly odious executive and more about the
kinds of strategies that are being tested to prepare for the Supreme
Court's pending decision on marriage equality. So let's think of
Louisiana as the canary in the coal mine of democracy, as I welcome
my good friend activist John Denison to the State of Belief studio.
John welcome back! It's great to have you with us.
[JOHN DENISON, GUEST]: Thanks Welton, it's always great to be
here. And I never tire of talking about Bobby Jindal because America
needs to learn what we in Louisiana have been learning about him for
almost eight years now.
[WG]: Isn't that the truth.
[JD]: Yes.

[WG]: OK, well, let's start by expanding a bit if you will on the recent
events connected to Louisiana's version of the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act.
[JD]: Well, let's start with the legislator who actually brought this
odious bill to a session. In Louisiana, Welton, we are mired in red ink
right now. We have a budget deficit projected to be 1.6 billion dollars.
This is a fiscal session - it's only supposed to deal with fiscal issues;
however, each legislator in off-year fiscal sessions gets to file five
non-budget-related bills.
This Rep. Mike Johnson from Bossier City is the winner of a special
election to fill an unexpired term in the House. He ran unopposed.
We should not have let that happen, because Rep. Johnson does not
represent the good people of Louisiana; he represents the mindset
that religion is here to marginalize people. It's only for those who
subscribe to their brand of Christianity, and not to what is in, you
know, the general purpose for all of us here in our great state.
So he comes into it - he also is the one that was chosen because
he's an attorney. He was chosen to be the one to argue before the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals when Louisiana's marriage equality
lawsuit went before that appeals court several months ago. He is
rooted in the religious right and these religious freedom slash
marriage initiatives. He even calls this the Marriage and Conscience
Act. Now, I don't know how he came up with that term, but it's just
very simple: they anticipate the U.S. Supreme Court will - in just a
matter of a few weeks - will legalize same-sex marriage across the
board, and this is their half-fisted attempt to try to counter that among
their faithful people.
[WG]: Yeah. Well, I'm sure that individuals who are not following this
closely can't quite understand the concerns being expressed by
human rights advocates about a bill that they just generally
understand as a religious freedom bill. How does Louisiana's RFRA
differ from the federal law that Bill Clinton signed back in 1993?
[JD]: Well, what he tried to do with House Bill 707 is to make it illegal
for the State to penalize any business that gets called out. This is
such a stretch. This is absolutely - it's a solution in search of a
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problem. There is no problem here. But he wanted to be able to have

the State go in and say, Look, if you have an objection to you baking
a cake for this same-sex couple - that's fine. We understand that you
have religious objections to that. Public accommodation laws don't
matter here, apparently; which I find it ironic: he purports to be a
constitutional attorney, yet he's just trampling all over our constitution.
Now, that also cuts both ways, because as you know Welton,
Louisiana has a constitutional amendment that is now over a decade
old that forbids same-sex marriage; it defines it as marriage between
a man and a woman. This is a state that has long trampled on the
equal rights - and denied the equal rights - of the LGBT community,
and it's continuing to do so. But this just takes - you know, these state
RFRAs have not even been, the one Louisiana passed in 2010 - no
one has even challenged it. No one has brought it up and tried to use
it to their advantage. So these are all just words on paper by people
who are trying to marginalize a large segment of our population.
[WG]: John, it was just a couple of weeks ago that Jindal swore that
he wouldn't cave to so-called corporate bullies in defying common
sense and his own fiscal responsibilities in promising that protections
for bias would become law in this state. Look: Jindals approval is it
23%, so he's not playing to voters in Louisiana. He's not even playing
to our economic interests. Who's playing the tune that hes dancing
to?
[JD]: I don't know, Welton. You know, I really want to believe that he
sincerely thinks that he can make a successful run for the presidential
nomination of his party. But I've got to believe that there are just so
many other machinations that have come into play here... You talk
about a House of Cards episode - we could do one here in Louisiana
just based on what Bobby Jindal has done to ignore his home state,
and to feed into his base on a national scale. He's made no secret
that he's going to run for president. The Monroe News Star editorial,
when he announced his exploratory committee this week, called him
Captain Obvious - and that's a relatively conservative newspaper
that has now seen Bobby Jindal for what he truly is - the Emperor
who has no clothes. He will go to the ends of the earth to say he is
protecting the religious freedom of Americans

[WG]: But he doesnt understand what religious freedom is!

[JD]: His definition is just whatever he and his supporters want it to be
- which takes somebody like me, a gay man, and it just says You're
marginalized. We love you its that old saying, We love you. We
love you, the sinner, but we hate the sin. They just cannot
differentiate between what they see as just something that they're
doing to play to the base, and how they're literally hurting people and
families as they do it. This hurts people, Welton. This hurts me!
[WG]: Yeah, that's exactly right. And John, you know better than this,
but I want our listeners to know as well that when I said that the
governor doesn't believe in religious liberty - that's not a throwaway
generalization. It really has substance. This is the governor that spent
$50,000 of state taxpayers' money to travel the state and give his
Christian testimony in churches. This is the governor that has
diverted funds for public education to parochial schools, primarily, and
then signed that legislation in a church. He doesn't get what religious
freedom is about.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu quickly signed his own executive
order stating that, The city of New Orleans appropriately balances
religious beliefs of all kinds with civil liberties, including freedom from
discrimination. Why wouldn't that statement be enough at the state
level?
[JD]: And I want to add on to that, because there the following
paragraph - I have the copy of his executive order here. He says:
This executive order is an important symbolic affirmation that
discrimination in any form will not be tolerated in New Orleans. We
believe religious liberty and freedoms should be protected, and
discrimination prohibited. And we have passed our own laws to reflect
that principle.
New Orleans, by the way, is one of only two Louisiana cities that has
non-discrimination citywide ordinances - Shreveport being the other
one in North Louisiana - which forbids any kind of discrimination
based on sexual orientation or gender identity. So you know we're
seeing increasingly - we saw it in Arkansas - we're seeing
increasingly in some states where we have legislators who are trying
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to tamp down what can be done on the local level. Well, I think Mitch
Landrieu took that play from their playbook and he says, Look, Baton
Rouge and Governor Jindal: this is my city. We do not discriminate.
We welcome people regardless of their religious ties, of their sexual
orientation, you name it - you are welcome here in Louisiana. And of
course, Mitch Landrieu also understands tourism is our largest
industry in this state, and that is the biggest industry in New Orleans.
It's interesting, Welton, you mentioned Bobby Jindals approval rating.
This is a solidly red state now. Many of the legislators are Republican
but they used to be Democrats. Many of them have switched in the
last decade or so if they thought it would be politically expedient for
them to do so and get them elected or reelected. But to be a governor
in a red state, and to have an approval rating lower in the state than
President Obama - that's bad. This is what America needs to hear
about Gov. Bobby Jindal. He's been bad for Louisiana. He has not
solved the problems - he has created them. And he's done it all the
way as hes been looking ahead to his run for the White House.
[WG]: You know, I was in D.C. just a few days ago and I was at a
dinner table with several Republican leaders - one of whom who
actually was a part of Jindals campaigns for governor in both
instances - and I asked what's going on with this man. And this very
high-ranking Republican leader said, We're all embarrassed by what
he's doing. He's not playing fair with his Republican counterparts, and
we don't know what's happened to him but he is out of touch with the
Republican Party, and out of touch with America.
[JD]: The pre-presidential primary polls are all showing, if he does
show up, he only shows up as a hash mark or maybe one or two
percent. I mean, he's the lowest of the low. And I do realize he's trying
to gain traction in Iowa. We know that Iowa will vote conservatively,
that there are a lot of Evangelical Christians in Iowa that he's playing
to. And in fact, the very day that he signed the executive order - the
very day that House Bill 707 was defeated in committee Gov. Jindal
who was running an ad for president - his first television ad in Iowa professing to be the go-to guy for religious freedom. Now how's that
for a coincidence?

[WG]: Hmm. Well, I think I'm not going to comment on that. John, you
have the trust of so many people in this state because of your long
career in communications an anchor on the news here in Monroe.
As a long-time activist as well as a respected communicator, talk
about the efforts in Louisiana to protect the rights of everybody in the
state in the face of Jindals assault.
[JD]: We have pushed - Forum for Equality, the LGBT rights group
that I've been a part of and chaired the foundation side of for the last
two years - we've been pushing a non-discrimination bill. In fact, last
year - and we brought it back up again this year - that we call LANA,
the Louisiana Non-Discrimination Act, LANA not only outlaws it just in
general, you cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation or
gender identity or gender expression, but we also went through a
number of Louisiana laws and we found almost 70 examples where
there are non-discrimination policies that don't cover age; that don't
cover sex; and even don't cover race here and here in 2015. So we
had an omnibus bill that unfortunately got tabled last year well, it
wasn't tabled, it wasn't brought up for a vote by the Committee to the
full House - and another bill last year that would have been a little bit
narrower in scope also didn't make it out of committee. We also had
that bill ready to go and was due to be heard the same day this week
as House Bill 707, the Marriage and Conscience Act. But we decided
to defer it. We thought it was important and we talked with our other
LGBT allies, particularly the A.C.L.U. here in Louisiana, which is a
fine partner of Forum for Equality, and we agreed we needed to focus
on this one really bad bill. And I think, Welton, this is a watershed
moment for Louisiana's legislature.
Now I realize it's an election year - for those of you who don't know, in
Louisiana well elect our governor, a new governor, and a new
legislature this fall. But for there to be ten votes against this bill in
Committee and only two - and those ten votes were bipartisan speaks volumes in support of LGBT rights finally getting a decent
seat at the table. And that's important at the legislature. Gov. Jindal is
not a hands-off governor. He has hand-chosen his House Speaker
and his Senate President and Committee leadership. Don't think that
he is not pulling as many strings as he can in that body.

[WG]: Well, you know it is just so disappointing to have a state

leaders so focused on his own agenda, contrary to the well-being of
his own constituents. This bears watching, I think, both in the
particular but also in the general - because you better believe
whatever Jindal is able to get away with will quickly get emulated by
like-minded conservatives in other states all across this nation.
John Dennison is the chair of the Forum for Equality foundation
executive board. He is a longtime broadcast journalist, as I've said;
he's also a community volunteer whose honors include a lifetime
achievement award in broadcasting's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.
John, I really appreciate you coming in today to visit with us again on
State of Belief Radio and to enlighten our listeners about how things
get done, how things get blocked, how things fail in the state of
Louisiana - but it's not because of you. You're doing everything you
can do and we appreciate that.
[JD]: Thank you Welton, I appreciate it. Louisiana politics - it may be
crazy, but it's never dull!

John Denison
John Denison is the Chair of the Forum for Equality Foundation
Executive Board. The Forum for Equality Louisiana advocates for
equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in
the Louisiana. Equality is meant to include the protection of human
and civil rights and the elimination of prejudice and discrimination.
John Denison is also a broadcast journalist and community volunteer
whose honors include a lifetime achievement award and
broadcasting's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.For more than 20

years, John anchored weekday primetime newscasts for KNOE-TV,

the CBS affiliate in Monroe, where he was also Managing Editor. He
also was News Director/Anchor at KTVE-TV, the NBC affiliate in El
Dorado, AR-Monroe, and KRMD Radio in Shreveport, where he
started his professional broadcasting career in 1978.
Among Johns honors are the DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence
in Broadcast Journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Award by the RadioTelevision News Directors Association for Best Newscast, and the
Communicator Award from the Louisiana Association of Educators.
He is the recipient of numerous Associated Press Broadcasters
awards and is past president of the Louisiana AP Broadcasters.
Volunteer affiliations include membership on the boards of: The
Center for Children and Families/CASA of Northeast Louisiana,
Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, KEDM-FM Public Radio,
The Twin City Ballet Company, Go Care HIV/AIDS Resources, The
G.B. Cooley House Foundation, Bering-Omega Community Services
of Houston, and Friends of the Monroe Civic Center Theater.

Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy

Author of more than 20 books, including First Freedom First: A
Citizens Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of
Church and State, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy led the national nonpartisan grassroots and educational organization Interfaith Alliance
for 16 years, retiring in 2014. Dr. Gaddy continues his work with the
Alliance as President Emeritus and Senior Advisor. He serves as
Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in
Monroe, Louisiana.
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In addition to being a prolific writer, Dr. Gaddy hosts the weekly State
of Belief radio program, where he explores the role of religion in the
life of the nation by illustrating the vast diversity of beliefs in America,
while exposing and critiquing both the political manipulation of religion
for partisan purposes and the religious manipulation of government
for sectarian purposes.
Dr. Gaddy provides regular commentary to the national media on
issues relating to religion and politics. He has appeared on MSNBCs
The Rachel Maddow Show and Hardball, NBCs Nightly News and
Dateline, PBSs Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and The Newshour
with Jim Lehrer, C-SPANs Washington Journal, ABCs World News,
and CNNs American Morning. Former host of Morally Speaking on
NBC affiliate KTVE in Monroe, Louisiana, Dr. Gaddy is a regular
contributor to mainstream and religious news outlets.
While ministering to churches with a message of inclusion, Dr. Gaddy
emerged as a leader among progressive and moderate Baptists.
Among his many leadership roles, he is a past president of the
Alliance of Baptists and has been a 20-year member of the
Commission of Christian Ethics of the Baptist World Alliance. His past
leadership roles include serving as a member of the General Council
of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, President of Americans United
for Separation of Church and State, Chair of the Pastoral Leadership
Commission of the Baptist World Alliance and member of the World
Economic Forums Council of 100. Rev. Gaddy currently serves on
the White House task force on the reform of the Office of Faith Based
and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Prior to the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist
Convention (SBC), Dr. Gaddy served in many SBC leadership roles
including as a member of the conventions Executive Committee from

1980-84 and Director of Christian Citizenship Development of the

Christian Life Commission from 1973-77.
Dr. Gaddy received his undergraduate degree from Union University
in Jackson, Tennessee and his doctoral degree and divinity training
from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,
Kentucky.

State of Belief Radio

State of Belief is based on the proposition that religion has a positive
and healing role to play in the life of the nation. The show explains
and explores that role by illustrating the vast diversity of beliefs in
America the most religiously diverse country in the world while
exposing and critiquing both the political manipulation of religion for
partisan purposes and the religious manipulation of government for
sectarian purposes.
Each week, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy offers listeners critical
analysis of the news of religion and politics, and seeks to provide
listeners with an understanding and appreciation of religious liberty.
Rev. Gaddy tackles politics with the firm belief that the best way to
secure freedom for religion in America is to secure freedom from
religion. State of Belief illustrates how the Religious Right is wrong
wrong for America and bad for religion.
Through interviews with celebrities and newsmakers and field reports
from around the country, State of Belief explores the intersection of
religion with politics, culture, media, and activism, and promotes

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diverse religious voices in a religiously pluralistic world.

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