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Gen Con potentially moving from Indiana after state signs the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law

Gen Con, a tabletop gaming convention normally held in Indianapolis, is potentially in jeopardy today as Indiana Governor Mike Pence has signed the state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law.

The bill stops state and local governments from preventing a person’s free exercise of religion without a compelling state interest.

“The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action,” said Gov. Pence in a statement.

“This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it,” he added.

Those against the bill, including the organisers of Gen Con, say its language will allow Indiana residents to discriminate based on ther beliefs. As a prime example, those against the bill say it it will allow business owners the right to refuse service to LGBTQ patrons.

The Seattle-based Gen Con LLC sent a letter to Gov. Pence saying that if the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed into law, the company would reconsider “hosting the convention in the state of Indiana in future years.”

Today, Gen Con’s Twitter account said they’re preparing a response to the bill and the future of the convention in Indianapolis.

Gen Con isn’t the only organisation considering — or actually removing — business from the state. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also took to Twitter to assert that his company will be avoiding Indiana wherever possible.

We’ll keep you informed on Gen Con’s actual decision.

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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Stevivor.com, the country’s leading independent video games outlet. Steve arrived in Australia back in 2001 on what was meant to be a three-month working holiday before deciding to emigrate and, eventually, becoming a citizen.

Stevivor is a combination of ‘Steve’ and ‘Survivor’, which made more sense back in 2001 when Jeff Probst was up in Queensland. The site started as Steve’s travel blog before transitioning over into video games.

Aside from video games, Steve has interests in hockey and Star Trek, playing the former and helping to cover video games about the latter on TrekMovie.com. By day, Steve works as the communications manager of the peak body representing Victorians as they age.