Requests for repeal of RFRA flow in to lawmakers
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 31 March 2015 15:42
INDIANAPOLIS — Leaders and organizations continue to call on state lawmakers to take action on the intensely controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard held a news conference Monday afternoon where he called on lawmakers to repeal or add specific language to Senate Bill 101 to protect LGBT Hoosiers.
In an executive order issued, the Republican mayor laid out a “declaration of non-discrimination.”
It reads in part that Indianapolis “affirms its policy that no vendor, contractor, grant recipient, or anyone receiving public funds or benefits of any kind shall discriminate” and that doing so will be considered a “breach of the relationship.”
The order also makes a request to Gov. Mike Pence and the Indiana General Assembly to make “sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in state law.”
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kevin Brinegar is urging legislators “to act swiftly and thoughtfully.”
“Unfortunately, Indiana has taken a tremendous hit to its national identity as a welcoming and hospitable state,” Brinegar said in a release. “The business community is concerned about losing contracts and customers for a law that it did not support and did not want to see happen.”
Congressman Andre Carson is also speaking out against SB 101. Carson is calling for a repeal of the “discriminatory measure.”
“There is no place in Indiana, or anywhere in America, for a law like SB 101,” said Carson in a media release. “As our country celebrates the 50th anniversary of several pieces of legislation outlawing discrimination and intolerance, Indiana’s Governor and members of the State Legislature have chose to go back to America’s days of intolerance and injustice.”
On Monday, both Democratic and Republican leaders addressed some of the controversy around RFRA. Republicans leaders, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the legislation “does not and will not” allow discrimination.
Bosma and Long said they are looking at “clarifying” the language around bill to appease Hoosiers.
Democrats say they aren’t interested in a clarification. Instead, Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, and House Minority Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, are calling for a complete repeal.
Also on Monday, the labor union, The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or AFSCME, announced its convention will be relocated. The event was scheduled for October 2015 in Indianapolis.
Article writer Aubrey Helms is the broadcast coordinator for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
