Many, including top Indiana lawmakers, say that private businesses in the state are legally allowed to discriminate against serving LGBT people. This has come to national attention thanks to Indiana's recently passed "religious freedom" state law. Such discrimination would include signs that express the intent of the owner not to serve LGBT people, including signs that say "Straights Only" and "No Gays Allowed."

In fact, according to reports, it is not Indiana's freshly passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act that would permit this kind of discrimination. Indeed, this discrimination was permitted in most of Indiana before this law was ever conceived. That is because Indiana has no state-wide restriction on discriminating against people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. There are some local ordinances that do protect LGBT people from such discrimination but those are few and far between. According to the Human Rights Campaign, a major LGBT political advocacy group, the grand majority of cities and counties in Indiana do not have such protections.

However, now that Indiana has been brought into the spotlight on this subject thanks to the passage of its "religious freedom" law, don't be surprised if such discriminatory signage starts popping up. Also, the law is, according to some, meant to shore up the legal case for those who choose to discriminate in the case. In fact, there are some examples of people who have begun to do so.

Many, including Apple CEO and openly gay man Tim Cook, have compared such discrimination to the segregation policies in the South decades ago.