Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has invited a public-employee union that canceled a conference in Indianapolis because of the state's new religious-freedom law to hold its meeting in Vermont.
In a letter to the AFSCME President, Shumlin said Tuesday that Vermont would be an ideal place to hold the women's conference because of the state's legacy of promoting equal rights.
Shumlin says Vermont was the first state to legislate marriage equality "simply because it was the right thing to do, not because a court mandated it."
The religious freedom law is causing an uproar in Indiana. Indiana Governor Mike Pence said Tuesday that he wants legislation on his desk by the end of the week to clarify that the state's law does not allow discrimination against gays and lesbians.
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