Md. Lawmaker Urges Governor To Enact Travel Ban To Indiana

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- The fallout over a controversial religious freedom law stretches from Indiana to Maryland. One lawmaker wants Governor Hogan to ban state travel to Indiana until the law is repealed.

Political reporter Pat Warren has the governor's response.

The request came from state Senator Richard Madaleno, who noted the governor himself is a potential target of the Indiana law.

While Indiana lawmakers work to clarify the state's religious freedom law, which critics say allows businesses to discriminate based on religious belief, Maryland Senator Richard Madaleno is asking Governor Hogan to ban state-funded travel to Indiana.

Warren: "What is your motivation for writing to the governor?"

Madaleno: "Well, because the law that's passed in Indiana is so insidious."

Senator Richard Madaleno opens his letter with trusting the governor shares his deep concerns over the new, so-called religious freedom law.

Before referring to his own marriage to a man, Madaleno writes: "Your family...could be denied service due to a random business person, waiter, or clerk's objection to the first lady's previous divorce."

That's where--a spokesman says--Governor Hogan stopped reading.

"Almost every one of us has some aspect of our lives that someone else might find objectionable from a religious perspective," Madaleno said.

The governor found Madaleno's reference to the first lady objectionable; a spokesman saying: "Political stunts like this are precisely what Maryland voters rejected in last year's election."

Warren: "Do you think you should have left her out of it?"

Madaleno: "Because this is a family issue, this is. My family is at risk in Indiana, his family is at risk in Indiana. And that's the point I was trying to make of how insidious this law is."

As to the Indiana law, his office states: "Governor Hogan is opposed to discrimination in all forms and history has repeatedly proven that the best way to effect positive change is through engagement of ideas, not disengaging from those we disagree with."

That sounds a lot like a "no" to the ban.

Madaleno emphasized that he pointed to the governor as a potential target because of his wife's divorce, and not because she is Asian.

The governors of New York, Vermont, Washington and Connecticut have announced bans on certain state-funded travel to Indiana because of the law.