State lawmakers consider new LGBT protections

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The debate over civil rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity is back on at the Statehouse.

State lawmakers often decide which issues to pursue in the General Assembly based on summer study committee hearings and that’s why they took testimony Tuesday on proposed new protections for the LGBT community.

The hearing attracted an overflow crowd and most of the testimony came from corporate leaders who said Indiana needs to do more to present itself as a welcoming state.

It’s the followup to the RFRA debate that took place in 2015. Amid protests and boycotts, lawmakers passed a RFRA fix that left local civil rights ordinances in place.

The 2016 legislature rejected attempts to create statewide protections but business leaders said they are still necessary.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Mark Fisher of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commer. “The issue is still brought up in economic development deals. It’s brought up in convention attraction efforts and talent attraction efforts.”

But conservative groups are still opposed.

“You’re either going to take liberties away from one group to give to another,” said Micah Clark of the Indiana Family Association. “That’s not expanding civil rights when you harm religious freedom.”

Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Steuerwald (R-Avon) indicated that it’s likely that lawmakers will wait to take action until most of these issues are decided in the federal courts.

“Trying to separate these issues and deal with them individually,” he said, “is extremely difficult.”