INDIANAPOLIS — In an open letter to Gov. Mike Pence and leaders in the Indiana House and Senate, national LGBT and civil rights groups call on lawmakers to quickly enact legislation fixing SB 101, which could allow discrimination against gay and transgender people, and end the firestorm of protests that have engulfed the state.
"Indiana is already on the verge of losing billions of dollars and thousands of jobs because of this dangerous law. Major organizations have announced they are cancelling conferences and companies are pulling business from Indiana to protect their employees and customers from discrimination," the letter reads. "We want Indiana to be the thriving state that it can and should be, but that will never happen with state-sanctioned discrimination against LGBT people on the books."
The Fairness for All Hoosiers Act was introduced today by Freedom Indiana. The bill would update state laws against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations to provide protections for LGBT Hoosiers and ensure that the recently enacted RFRA cannot be used to allow discrimination prohibited under state or local laws.
Since SB 101 was passed last week, Indiana has faced a growing national backlash that has included calls to move the Final Four out of the state, lost convention businesses and canceled private-sector investment. The Fairness for All Hoosiers Act would end the controversy and ensure that discrimination isn't allowed in Indiana.
The letter closes with a call to action: "It's time to show the rest of the nation that Indiana is open for business — for everyone."
Organizations signing the letter include:
American Civil Liberties Union
Equality Federation Institute
Freedom to Marry
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ( GLAD )
GLAAD
Human Rights Campaign
Lambda Legal
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National LGBTQ Task Force
National Center for Transgender Equality
Transgender Law Center
The full letter is available here: www.aclu-in.org/images/RFRAletter.pdf .
