No, Pence did not veto the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed by the state legislature. He immediately signed it. The LGBT lobby immediately went berserk, and it was the Republican legislature that folded like a parasol, quickly drawing up “clarifying” language that was appended to an unrelated bill that very same week. The Religious Freedom Law was never vetoed, nor was it rescinded. It was, however, effectively amended by adding explicit protections for gender identity and sexual preference.
Do I wish Pence and the state legislature had stood up to the LBGT lobby? Of course. But the time to do that was as the bill was being crafted. As I understand it, it was a badly written bill. So, imho, what looked like a quick cave to the vocal LGBT lobby was a scramble to cut losses before it met court challenge. Do they stand on intent and not the language of the law (like democrats), and have the bill struck down on appeal, being the precedent that poisons any other state’s religious freedom law?
It was a mess, to be sure. And I was disappointed. But I think we should be disappointed for the right reasons. Pence did not veto the bill. He signed it. He did not cave to the LGBT lobby. He did, however, reap the consequences of hastiness and sloppiness, underestimating the opponents, and overestimating the skills of supposed allies.
His explanations were so garbled it was difficult to make sense of but if I recall it wasn’t the wording of the bill itself Pence was against but how it was being perceived, saying something like a fix is needed only because of the “smears” that were being leveled against the act. He probably doesn’t see the damage this will do to Trump coming either.