Walking around Indianapolis, talking to athletes and coaches and to local residents — a striking number of whom sounded horrified by this legislation — you are struck that our culture sometimes is a train moving faster than politicians realize.

Same-sex marriage gained legal recognition here last year. This infuriated conservatives, who tried and failed to pass a constitutional amendment banning it.

Conservative activists turned their attention to the so-called religious freedom bill. It might have given businesses the right to refuse to offer certain services to gays and lesbians. Mr. Pence and Republican legislators no doubt figured this was a smart play, a clever nod to the evangelical base of their party.

Their calculus would have been correct a few years ago.

The problem for Governor Pence is that a substantial portion of the world outside his base saw this as a terrible idea. Major corporations and the N.C.A.A. lined up to say that if the law stood, the organizations might have to reconsider doing business here.

Oops.

Mr. Pence of late has taken to insisting that this new law — which he and legislators quickly and compliantly gutted — was not discriminatory and was not intended as payback for same-sex marriage. And the Brooklyn Bridge wasn’t about building a bridge to Brooklyn.

As it happens, the college sports establishment has proved itself to possess a sturdier spine on this question than some might have guessed. Geno Auriemma, the coach of the Connecticut women’s team, spoke rather directly to the subtext.

“I’ve always been fascinated by people who care so much about what other people are and what they do in their personal lives,” he told a news conference. “Like, how small-minded do you have to be to care that much about what other people are doing? Life is hard enough as it is, trying to live your own life.”