Does Indiana need a bathroom bill?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – State lawmakers are trying to avoid a new debate over LGBT protections and an even more controversial subject is looming on the horizon

It’s the debate over gender neutral bathrooms.

Conservatives turned out in force Tuesday to call for a new bathroom law in Indiana similar to the one that has caused so much controversy in North Carolina.

It happened at a hearing that was scheduled to help lawmakers decide whether they should consider new LGBT protections. But, one after another, opponents to that idea also spelled out their support for a bathroom bill because, they said, school children will be placed at risk otherwise.

“All they have to do is feel like the opposite sex,” said Tea Party activist, Monica Boyer . “Tell me what teenage boy wouldn’t leap at the idea of showering with the girls?”

A key lawmaker, however, indicated that it’s unlikely that a bathroom bill will get a hearing in the 2017 General Assembly.

“Transgender folks are using the bathroom of their choice currently,” said Sen. Travis Holdman (R-Marke) “and I don’t know that that has become an issue.”

Lawmakers and others are hoping that the federal courts will provide answers soon.

“Schools, that whole issue of restrooms, gender identity, who gets to go in what restroom,” said Micah Clark of the Indiana Family Association, “I think it’s a giant mess that the courts will work out.”