INDIANA: Hate Group Leader Leaves Law Firm Job Over Support For RFRA Law
Until last week Smith was the director of public policy at the Taft Law firm. One of its biggest clients is Cummins, the Columbus based engine manufacturer that was a leading opponent of the religious freedom law. Something had to give. As recently as Monday morning his Linkedin page showed him working at Taft Law. But an email sent to his law firm address came back with a message saying that he left Taft to join the Family Institute as President, even though his bio at the Family Institute website points out that he has actually held that position for 11 years. A spokesman for the law firm said that the purpose of the Family Institute didn’t match the purpose of the law firm but that it was Smith’s decision to leave. The Taft law firm, according the spokesman, has a principle of inclusiveness, and the when the Religious Freedom law was perceived to allow discrimination against gays and lesbians, that apparently posed an additional problem.The Family Research Council, of course, is claiming that Smith was hounded out of his job.
It is a sad day for Indiana and for American law when a man as principled and talented as Curt Smith is de facto forced to leave his role with his employer because he believes that coercion and repression are not Hoosier values. The moral cowardice of the leadership of Taft and its clients (including Cummins, about whose generous federal contracts I wrote myriad news releases when working for Sen. Coats) is repulsive. Curt Smith has the assurance of a loving God and the respect of many friends. What do Taft, Cummins, and their compeers have? Gaining the world at the cost of one’s soul is, according to Jesus, a bad bargain. They might consider that a bit.Smith is an advocate for "ex-gay" torture and has compared gays to people who have sex with animals.
Labels: hate groups, Indiana, religion, RFRA
