WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Businesses and community leaders spoke out against the latest version of Indiana’s proposed hate crimes bill, after an amendment in the state senate deleted two-thirds of the proposed legislation. That amendment gutted protections for race, religion, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. Indiana sits on a list of 5 states who do not have a hate crimes bill in place. The bill referred to the Courts and Criminal Codes committee on Monday for a first reading. Bloomington House Rep. (D-Bloomington) Matt Pierce is a member of that committee. Pierce said that even with a supermajority in both the State Senate and the House of Representatives, it’s uncertain what Republicans will do with Senate Bill 12.
Pierce speculates that social conservatives are fearful to support a bill that protects members of the LGBTQ community, and don’t want to draw criticism from their base before primary elections in 2020. Pierce says the bill needs more clarity. To pass a real hate crimes bill, the law needs to be concise about what it means to violate this law.
Advocacy groups and major Indiana businesses were supportive of the bill in its original form before it was gutted by social conservatives in the state senate two weeks ago. As the Indy Star reports, the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Colts, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all spoke out against the bill. Major business such as Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Eli Lilly have released similar statements. Civil rights group Muslim Advocates was critical of Gov. (R-Indiana) Holcomb, who flip-flopped several times on the issue, and the Indiana General Assembly. The advocacy group urges passage of a bill with a list of protected classes, including race, gender, age, religion and sexual orientation. The Jewish Community Relations Council released a statement reported by the Indy Star expressing extreme disappointment that the list of protected classes were stripped from the bill. The organization stated the Indiana General Assembly needs to recognize and protect Jewish Hoosiers who are targeted because of their religion.
