A legislative study committee on LGBT rights didn’t make much headway in a hearing this week. It’s disappointing news for Hoosiers who want to ensure equal rights for all citizens.
Hopefully, members of the study committee will recommend to their legislative colleagues that the state’s civil rights law should add protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers. A bill put forward by Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, in last year’s session that would have expanded the civil rights law did not get to the floor for a vote.
So the Indiana General Assembly failed a year ago to commit to inclusiveness by extending basic civil rights protections to people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. By doing so, lawmakers continue to show they don’t believe all Hoosiers deserve the same rights.
In the wake of the 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act mess, we expect more our of the Legislature. The study committee heard the same tired old concerns opposing equal rights. Some suggest these equal rights are “special privileges,” while others get caught up in the narrowness of the transgender bathroom issue.
On that last point, one man who testified at the committee meeting brought his daughter into the discussion, saying “she’s not comfortable seeing the opposite sex organ on somebody in the same bathroom as her.” As if that’s what this debate is about.
Committee members did note, correctly, that some of these issues are wending their way through the court system. That still shouldn’t stop them from recommending equal rights for all. Hopefully, that’s what they’ll do.