--- title: Indiana Religious Freedom Bill On Its Way to Become Law description: The state's House passed the controversial legislation 63-31 on Monday canonical: https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-23T21:56:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:22:44.812Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Indiana's Religious Freedom Bill One Step Closer to Becoming Law og:description: The state's House passed the controversial legislation 63-31 on Monday og:url: https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0ff0ccf08504c0e/698784e1428a9e9e37cc7c43/freedom-religion-bill-indiana.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Religious Freedom og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Indiana's Religious Freedom Bill One Step Closer to Becoming Law twitter:description: The state's House passed the controversial legislation 63-31 on Monday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0ff0ccf08504c0e/698784e1428a9e9e37cc7c43/freedom-religion-bill-indiana.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Indiana's Controversial Religious Freedom Bill Set to Become Law  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 23, 2015 9:56 PM CUT  Community members on both sides of the issue stand outside of the Indiana House chamber during a meeting of an Indiana House committee to discuss the merits of Senate Bill 101, the Religious Freedom Bill, at the state Capitol in Indianapolis, March 16, 2015. Community members on both sides of the issue stand outside of the Indiana House chamber during a meeting of an Indiana House committee to discuss the merits of Senate Bill 101, the Religious Freedom Bill, at the state Capitol in Indianapolis, March 16, 2015.Robert Scheer—AP  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Mar 23, 2015 9:56 PM CUT A controversial religious freedom bill in Indiana that critics say could legalize discrimination against LGBT people [is on track to become a law](http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/23/indiana-house-oks-controversial-religious-freedom-bill/70336706/ "undefined") after the state’s House approved it 63-31 on Monday. The bill would prohibit local government from “substantially burdening” a person’s free expression of religion with few exemptions, _the Indianapolis Star_ reports. Opponents of the bill say it could give business owners a free pass to refuse service to customers in same-sex relationships. Supporters, however, say it protects citizens from government intrusion on their beliefs. The bill is based on the decades-old federal Religious Freedom and Restoration Act law, which played a major part in the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision that allowed companies to opt out of a requirement to cover contraceptives to female employees under the Affordable Care Act for religious reasons. Indiana Governor Mike Pence has voiced his support for the bill, which was approved in a different form by the Indiana Senate in February. Some 19 other states have similar laws in place. \[[_Indianapolis Star_](http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/23/indiana-house-oks-controversial-religious-freedom-bill/70336706/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/"},"headline":"Indiana's Controversial Religious Freedom Bill Set to Become Law","datePublished":"2015-03-23T21:56:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:22:44.812Z","description":"The state's House passed it 63-31 on Monday","url":"https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/","keywords":["States","LGBT","religious freedom","Indiana"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0ff0ccf08504c0e/698784e1428a9e9e37cc7c43/freedom-religion-bill-indiana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0ff0ccf08504c0e/698784e1428a9e9e37cc7c43/freedom-religion-bill-indiana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Religious Freedom","caption":"Religious Freedom","creditText":"Robert Scheer—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3755297/indiana-religious-freedom/","name":"Indiana's Controversial Religious Freedom Bill Set to Become Law"}}]}] ```