Indiana native's anti-discrimination project takes off

Valparaiso, Ind. (AP) — A website originally meant as a way to help Indianapolis businesses market their openness to all customers has spread like wildfire to 23 states and several major cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

But the site's creator, Josh Driver, said it wasn't until he saw businesses from Valparaiso, his hometown, get involved that the impact of his new creation, OpenForService.org, really hit him.

"When there were some (Valparaiso) businesses that kind of stepped up that way - that's just kind of awesome," Driver told the Post-Tribune.

The website Open For Service's founder, Josh Davis, says seeing support from businesses in Valparaiso, his hometown, has been amazing. (Provided by Josh Davis)

He created the website two weeks ago in response to the then-proposed Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, a bill that Gov. Mike Pence signed into law Thursday that protects businesses from serving clients because of religious reasons.

Opponents of the law say it's legalized discrimination that targets gay people, however.

Driver created stickers and online badges saying "We Serve Everyone" that businesses, churches and other groups can buy and use from the website to promote the fact that they're willing serve anyone, no matter their sexual orientation.

Driver originally dreamed up the idea just for Indianapolis businesses. His friends helped spread the word, however, and businesses across Indiana and in other states started buying them.

The first order from Northwest Indiana came Tuesday evening, he said, and by Wednesday afternoon, the site was seeing orders from companies in Chesterton, Portage, Crown Point and about 12 to 15 in Valparaiso.

Driver was born and raised in Valparaiso but left in 2000 for college. He moved to Indianapolis in 2002, where he's lived ever since.

Seeing companies from across the country get on board was big, he said, but it meant more seeing those from his hometown, an area that usually leans conservative, also support the cause.

"I have gotten people from Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, and that's awesome," he said. "But when Valparaiso signed up, that hit home."

His parents still live in Valparaiso, and his dad, David Driver, said he was proud to see the local businesses showing their opposition to discrimination.

"It seems like Indiana is maybe taking a step backward with this," David Driver said of the law. "We used to be the good guys in this, but it seems like anymore, we're regressing."

David Driver said his son told them of his idea when he first started creating the website but that it was still a surprise to see just how much it's taken off.

"Over the last four or five days, it's just gone crazy," he said. "...We're just amazed, absolutely amazed."

As of Wednesday afternoon, 1,000 businesses signed up, Josh Driver said, and the goal is to create a directory of all of them on the website for people to find them.

"It's an honor, more so than a surprise," he said of the website's quick growth.

He said the impetus for the website came from his growing concern of partisanship in politics and wanting to see people work together instead.

"People are getting very polarized, not just by this legislation but by others," he said. "I think there's an opportunity to try to take a negative and try to make it a positive."

A window sticker on a downtown Indianapolis business, Wednesday, March 25, 2015, shows its objection to the Religious Freedom bill passed by the Indiana legislature. (Michael Conroy / AP)

His background is in technology entrepreneurship, Driver said, so he's well aware of how hard it can be for businesses to market themselves. He got tired of the media focusing on businesses calling for the RFRA law and decided he wanted to help those who were against it market themselves, which led to the creation of the "We Serve Everyone" badges. Driver said he hopes to sign up 25 businesses for every one that chooses to not serve someone.

Trying to help others isn't new for Driver. He said he's been a "serial philanthropist" for a long time and is usually looking for a new cause to support. Where some people like to volunteer or donate money, he said, Driver feels the need to be more proactive.

"I'm more of a put up or shut up type of person," he said.

His father said Driver gets it from his mother and noted that Josh raised almost $50,000 for leukemia last year.

"Like his mother, he's very positive and upbeat," David Driver said.

None of his prior efforts have seen such national attention, however, David Driver said.

Part of the $10 OpenForService.org is asking for the stickers goes to making them, but Driver said he's sending the rest to a national not-for-profit called Score that provides mentors for people starting their own businesses.

"The hope being that the money will fund more mentorships for businesses who will open their doors to everybody," he said.

Driver hopes to keep the website and stickers going and is working with a mentor now about further steps to take, such as becoming an official not-for-profit. He'd also like to see large restaurants and other retailers do sponsorships to help pay for increased administration costs as the website grows, although money from the stickers will remain dedicated to supporting Score.

Information from: Post-Tribune, Merrillville, IN.

By Teresa Auch Schultz, Post-Tribune.Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – March 29, 2015 @ 1:30pm.