The proposal, defeated along party lines, was offered as an amendment to House Bill 1001, the state’s two-year budget.
“We may not yet know the full economic implications of the fallout from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act debacle,” Lanane said in a press release. “What we do know is the governor is spending $2 million to hire an international public relations firm to repair our state’s image. In reality, the strongest action would be to fully protect the rights of LGBT Hoosiers under the Civil Rights Act.”
Lanane said the debate about RFRA exposed Indiana’s Civil Rights Act as being deficient and that the legislative “fix” passed by Statehouse Republicans and signed by the governor failed to provide statewide protections from discrimination.
“We have a lot further to go when it comes to equality in the state of Indiana,” Lanane said. “We can do better, and today we could have taken the first step to ensure that everyone is protected from discrimination regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Senate Democrats offered a number of amendments to HB 1001, including alterations to the state’s school funding formula and a proposal to ensure equal pay regardless of gender. Those amendments were also defeated along ?party lines.
Hannah Alani
