Indiana’s Senate Bill 66 – an anti-LGBT “Super RFRA” that would create sweeping exemptions encouraging people to pick and choose which laws they’re going to follow, has reportedly died in committee.
The proposal would have allowed anyone who claims a religious exemption the right to discriminate against LGBT Hoosiers, visitors and other minorities. The legislation was being pushed by extreme anti-LGBT Republican Senators Michael Young, Phil Boots, Jim Banks and Dennis Kruse.
The new proposal would have been even more dangerous than the state’s current RFRA, which triggered widespread outrage and damage to the state’s reputation and business climate last year. After demands from Hoosiers and Indiana-based businesses to “fix” the disastrous law, Gov. Pence signed legislation trying to limit the damage by attempting to clarify the RFRA could not be used to opt out of select non-discrimination protections. Proposed as definitions for the state constitution, the new “super-RFRA” would have stripped away those clarifications that Pence signed regarding non-discrimination protections, swinging the door wide open for blatant discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers and other minorities.
The state is still suffering from the fallout the current job-killing RFRA inflicted on the state. Just last week, the Indianapolis Star reported on a new poll that shows the damage still lingers from that disastrous battle, especially in the tourism industry. In an additional survey, Indianapolis was rated the second worst convention city in the nation for “bad publicity that might deter meeting planners from picking a city.”
In total, there are six anti-LGBT bills under consideration in Indiana’s legislature this year – including a vehemently discriminatory bill attacking transgender Hoosiers. Senate Bill 35, introduced by anti-LGBT Republican Sen. Jim Tomes, seeks to criminalize transgender people for using restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
Two non-discrimination bills are also scheduled for a committee hearing today, but they fall far short of the full protections that LGBT Hoosiers need and deserve. Senate Bill 100 claims to update Indiana’s civil rights law, but would actually override existing municipal civil rights protections and write broad religious exemptions into law, among other serious problems. Senate Bill 344 also seeks to update Indiana’s civil rights law, but it unacceptably excludes any and all protections for transgender Hoosiers.
Democratic Senate minority leader Timothy Lanane has introduced legislation – Senate Bill 2 – that would amend the state’s existing non-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories. Republican Senator Ron Alting has also introduced similar legislation – Senate Bill 170 – that would update the state’s non-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
