Activist buys up website domains of Republicans who voted for Indiana’s anti-gay law
A tech-savvy rights activist has bought up domains related to politicians in Indiana who voted through the state’s anti-gay law.
Indiana was strongly criticised last month for passing the controversial ‘Religious Freedom Restoration Act’, which gives businesses the right to discriminate against gay people on the grounds of religion.
In retaliation, this week activist Konrad Juengling bought out the domains for a number of the Republican politicians responsible – such as DaleDevon.com – and redirected them to a report on the struggles of young LGBT people from the Human Rights Campaign.
In an open letter to the politicians – Republicans Martin Carbaugh, Dale Devon, Douglas Gutwein, Kathy Kreag Richardson, Don Lehe, and Donna Schaibley – Mr Juengling offered to give them control of the web domains if they pass a non-discrimination law.
He wrote: “I recently purchased the domains for each of your names.
“The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, more aptly known as the Right to Discriminate bill, was a poor example of officials grossly underserving their constituency. To be more specific, it was an example of you six, as well as your colleagues, grossly underserving the people of Indiana and America.
“I purchased these domains to help educate you about the population you are trying to undermine. The domains for each of your names now forward to the Human Rights Campaign’s page on Youth Statistics.
“Some of those statistics are quite startling: 42% of youth say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people; LGBT youth are twice as likely as their peers to say they have been physically assaulted, kicked, or shoved at school; 92% of LGBT youth say they hear negative messages about being LGBT. The list goes on.
He continued: “If you bring to the floor a nondiscrimination policy protecting LGBT people in Indiana, vote for it, and it is passed, I will happily donate the domains in question to you. I’m sure they’ll come in handy come stumping season.
“Live up to your word. Protect your constituency from discrimination. Protect a minority population. Do so, and I’ll happily sign over the domains.”
We couldn’t possibly condone such a petty move…
