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Bosma: LGBT rights ‘more difficult’

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Lawmakers seeking to find a compromise on LGBT rights will have a tougher time finding one as a result of the position taken by Governor Mike Pence.

That’s what the House Speaker Brian Bosma said Thursday.

Mike Pence questioned whether new civil rights protections are even necessary in his State of the State Address. He also urged lawmakers to do more to protect religious freedoms in Indiana.

Speaker Bosma said he’s not sure if legislation now under consideration meets the governor’s criteria when it comes to religious freedom.

He also said that lawmakers would “take his words for what they are” when it comes to LGBT rights.

“I think he set the ground rules,” said Bosma. “I think it does make passage more difficult because I am not certain there is a solution on the table that meets the requirements that the governor indicated he was looking for.”

“The door’s been opened,” said Senate GOP Leader David Long on Tuesday, “and it will depend on what ultimately comes out of the legislature.”

The debate starts in the state Senate where 3 bills dealing with LGBT rights have been filed.

One of them protects civil rights for gays and lesbians but not for transgendered individuals. Speaker Bosma said he doesn’t know if that would meet the governor’s criteria even though, he said, the subject comes up every time legislative leaders meet with Mike Pence.