INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Indiana lawmakers will consider a proposal that would throw out the state’s
contentious religious objections law and replace it with a statute its
sponsor says aims to protect six fundamental rights.
It is unclear how
much support the bill might garner as legislators face a debate over a push
to extend LGBT civil rights protections following last spring’s uproar over
whether the religious objections law would permit discrimination against
gays and lesbians.
Under the new bill,
state government and courts would give “the greatest deference” on six
issues: the state constitutional rights to worship, religion, exercise of
religion, speech, assembly and bear arms.
Bill sponsor Sen.
Michael Young, a Republican from Indianapolis, said the religious objections
law became too convoluted and should be replaced by recognizing the
importance of multiple rights.
“We want those
protected at the highest standard,” Young said. “It protects our freedom.”
Advocates of civil
rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
maintain that Young’s bill is aimed at derailing their push.
Peter Hanscom, of
the business-backed pro-LGBT group Indiana Competes, said the proposal isn’t
a solution for concerns that the Legislature was legally permitting
discrimination.
“Let’s not address
this by creating, potentially, another problem,” Hanscom told WISH-TV.
The Senate
Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider the bill on Jan 20, but
Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long has held back from fully
endorsing it.
“What Sen. Young’s
bill will do if it gets a hearing - and I think it will - is to maybe go in
a direction we should have gone and deal with all First Amendment rights,
and not just one particular issue with religious rights but say all
constitutional rights are equal, and maybe there ought to be a standard for
all of them,” Long said.
Indiana University
law professor Robert Katz, who testified against adoption of the religious
objections law last year, questioned why the bill would enshrine only six of
37 sections of the state Constitution’s Bill of Rights - including several
religious rights - and leave out others, such as the right to equal
privileges and immunities.
“It would
effectively amend the Indiana Bill of Rights to create a two-tiered system
of rights,” Katz told The Indianapolis Star.