Indiana lawmakers abandon efforts to strengthen gay rights

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Republican lawmakers abandoned for the year efforts to add protections for lesbian, gay and bi-sexual people to anti-discrimination laws, leaving in place a religious objections law that sparked a national campaign to boycott the state when it was originally passed last spring.

Republican Sen. Travis Holdman, who had sponsored the gay rights bill, said in a Senate speech on Tuesday that he was disappointed but realized there wasn't enough support for it to win approval.

The measure had been criticized from all sides. Democrats and LGBT rights activists faulted it for not including transgender people and allowing broad religious exemptions. Religious conservatives said it would still require people to provide services for same-sex marriages even if they had religious objections.

"It just does not appear the time is right for this piece of legislation and I regret that deeply," Holdman said.

Indiana faced a national backlash and threats of boycotts last spring after Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed a religious objections law that critics said allowed discrimination against gay and lesbian people. The law was later softened but left both sides hoping for further changes this year.

The decision on Tuesday to abandon the effort came after GOP Senate President Pro Tem David Long had said last week that the Senate would vote on the measure, which he said was "of importance to the entire state, regardless of which way it goes."

Long conceded on Tuesday that the Legislature would not act on the issue this year.

"We took a beating from all sides in trying to do this," Long said. "This effort was unfortunately hampered by well-organized extreme messaging from groups representing both sides of this discussion — many of them from out of state. Neither of those sides were truly seeking a solution."

The gay-rights group Freedom Indiana said the decision was "incredibly disappointing" even though it believed Holdman's bill was "deeply flawed."

"We've said from the outset that doing nothing was not an option," the group said in a statement. "Today, lawmakers did nothing to help protect LGBT people in our state, but our work is only just beginning."