GenCon vs. Indiana

www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/201...eedom-bill/70393474/

"The organizers of Gen Con, the city's largest convention in attendance and economic impact, are threatening to move the event elsewhere if Gov. Mike Pence signs controversial religious freedom legislation that could allow business owners to refuse services to same-sex couples."

Yesterday, Governor Mike Pence signed that religious freedom bill into law anyway. GenCon is under contract to do annual convention in Indianapolis through 2020, but it might be worth the trouble to break the contract, rather than risk losing significant attendance due to religious intolerance. And that''s what this new law is about anyway: religious intolerance, not religious freedom. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution already protects religious freedom, but apparently Indiana legislators want a more aggressive form of religious "freedom" that allows people to discriminate against people who don't follow their religion.

I would like to brag about how I am boycotting Indiana over this, but the reality is that I have too many old friends living there to ever want to avoid the state. I would visit at least once a year if time and money weren't an issue. But the idea of legal enforcement of discrimination disgusts me, and I hope that organizations like GenCon and also the NCAA are able to apply enough pressure to bring the Hoosier voters to their senses.

The only reason I'd want it to stay in Indy at all is because my mother-in-law lives about a half-hour away, and my wife and I have talked about going one year and just commuting rather than trying to stay there. But that's not a good enough reason at all. Good for GenCon; break that contract. I'm sure they could go back to Wisconsin . . .

Seems to me I remember this carpenter guy who said his business was open to everyone...

Jackwraith wrote: Seems to me I remember this carpenter guy who said his business was open to everyone...

Oddly enough, many fanatical Christians don't seem to know about that guy.

I have loved every trip to Indianapolis. But this law is offensive and disappointing. It's 2015. Really.

Jackwraith wrote: Seems to me I remember this carpenter guy who said his business was open to everyone...

THIS.

These Indiana asshats have no hope of ever getting this past SCOTUS, so all it really did is fuck up their national image and show them to be bigots. On the other hand, they will be helping the economy because " 'dem white hoods gots to be 'Murican made. Don't want no Chinaman touchin' it."

Yelp and Salesforce have denounced this legislation.

The Disciples of Christ have threatened to relocate their 2017 conference.

And while not threatening to relocate their headquarters, major Indianapolis employer Eli Lilly has declared that this law is disappointing and bad for business.

You do not want to fuck with eli lilly in Indiana.

Jackwraith wrote: Seems to me I remember this carpenter guy who said his business was open to everyone...

Would you recommend him? I'm looking for someone to design a game table.

SuperflyTNT wrote: These Indiana asshats have no hope of ever getting this past SCOTUS,

I believe the SCOTUS ruling re: Hobby Lobby opened the door for this legislation to exist. Doesn't mean they wouldn't strike this down of course, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

GenCon isn't going anywhere short term. Their contract runs til 2020 and its not like they are going to break the contract over this . They've got a few more years til they'll even start seriously shopping other venues - if any. This will all have blown over well before then. At the end of the day, money talks and politics walks. Indy has worked out very well for GenCon LLC. The last several years have seen steady double digit attendance increases. I think its funny that some of those applauding their stance on other forums on this issue praise GenCon for taking a stand, then in the very next breath say " Gee, maybe they'll move it to _____ " . From what I've read, Chicago is the only other city in the upper Midwest that has comparable meeting space and hotel rooms - and in the case of the latter, I don't know if there are as many within walking distance. As it is, Indy hotel rooms near the venue sell out in literally an hour or two . And I bet it would be more expensive if it were to move to Chicago.

This is why you put "force majere" clauses in contracts so that you can get out of contracts when things beyond both parties' control happens to make the contract unfeasible, such as "acts of God", labor disputes, legislation, etc.

Does a democratic country exist that has freedom from religion?
I would like to live there.

Curb your dogma.

Msample wrote: GenCon isn't going anywhere short term. Their contract runs til 2020 and its not like they are going to break the contract over this . They've got a few more years til they'll even start seriously shopping other venues - if any. This will all have blown over well before then. At the end of the day, money talks and politics walks. Indy has worked out very well for GenCon LLC. The last several years have seen steady double digit attendance increases. I think its funny that some of those applauding their stance on other forums on this issue praise GenCon for taking a stand, then in the very next breath say " Gee, maybe they'll move it to _____ " . From what I've read, Chicago is the only other city in the upper Midwest that has comparable meeting space and hotel rooms - and in the case of the latter, I don't know if there are as many within walking distance. As it is, Indy hotel rooms near the venue sell out in literally an hour or two . And I bet it would be more expensive if it were to move to Chicago.

There were murmurs back in 2007 or 2008 about Gencon moving to Minneapolis. I assumed this was due to the contract ending and Gencon negotiating for better venue service since they seemed to have outgrown it at that time. Not sure where this rumor started at that time, but many folks at FFG were talking about it casually for some reason.

SuperflyTNT wrote: This is why you put "force majere" clauses in contracts so that you can get out of contracts when things beyond both parties' control happens to make the contract unfeasible, such as "acts of God", labor disputes, legislation, etc.

Even if there is such a clause, I don't see disagreeing with legislation as reason to allow GenCon to invoke force majeure unless they can show a huge drop off in attendance directly related people protesting the new law.