A bill was sent to the full Indiana Senate that would allow state-funded adoption agencies and businesses to discriminate, excludes protections for transgender people, and removes the ability of local municipalities to pass their own LGBT non-discrimination protections.
The bill, S.B. 344, moved to the Senate floor after passing a committee vote yesterday. While it while it extends very limited civil rights to lesbian and gay people in employment, housing, and public accommodations, “Senate Bill 344 provides such a broad license to discriminate based on religion that it is nothing short of a Super RFRA,” said Camilla Taylor, Counsel in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal.
The original Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that passed last year in the state says the government “may not substantially burden a person’s right to the exercise of religion” unless there is a compelling government interest. This was widely seen as allowing individuals to claim religious freedom as an excuse to discriminate. A “fix” passed later that prevented it from being used as a defense to discrimination claims.
This new “Super RFRA,” however, includes broad religious exemptions that give businesses and publicly funded social service agencies legal permission to discriminate against LGBT people. It also completely excludes any protection for transgender people and removes the authority of municipalities to pass any new, inclusive, local LGBT non-discrimination protections.
Amendments to the bill would repeal both last year’s RFRA and the “fix,” and would permit state-funded adoption agencies and non-profit organizations to discriminate. Nonprofits that are not affiliated with a church or faith may still discriminate if they offer religious-centered programs. Freedom for All Americans notes that these amendments “would allow adult shelters, food kitchens and hospitals to turn away vulnerable LGBT Hoosiers if one of the organization’s primary purposes is to offer religious centered programs.”
Freedom Indiana noted that despite the bill’s progress, “At the hearing, a diverse array of Hoosiers stood together—Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, people of faith and LGBT people—under the core belief that our state is stronger when all people are protected from discrimination.”
It’s not over yet. If you live in Indiana, you can contact your lawmakers here to tell them to vote against the bill. RFRA bills are being considered in a number of other states as well. They’re part of the backlash against LGBTQ equality and will loom large in this next phase of our struggle. We should work against them for ourselves, for children in need of homes, and for what the concepts of equality and church/state separation really mean in our country.