Amid heated debate, Carmel won't fast-track LGBT protections

CARMEL – Carmel residents packed a meeting for a preliminary discussion of a proposed city ordinance that would outlaw discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

The debate will continue in front of the finance committee at 5:30 p.m. Thursday after acting council President Kevin Rider said Monday night that Carmel would not fast-track the proposal, which was sponsored by six of seven council members.

Several council members said they wanted more time to work out a proposal that could strike a compromise between competing interests.

Republican Mayor Jim Brainard offered changes Monday night that would allow religious business owners to refuse to provide off-premises services or custom products, which could address some of the concerns over catering same-sex weddings.

He said he still expects the council to pass the proposed ordinance.

The proposal brings a fiery political issue to a Republican stronghold that is setting the tone for surrounding suburbs.

While many social conservatives say such local ordinances would interfere with the ability of the deeply religious to live by their beliefs, Brainard has said Carmel needs to take a stance as a welcoming community to foster economic development.

Councilwoman Sue Finkam began Monday's discussion with a public apology. After a resident emailed the council in opposition to the proposed ordinance, saying she was disgusted to live in Carmel, Finkam said she responded by telling the resident to move.

The ordinance would establish a citywide policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, with exemptions carved out for religious groups. It also would include classes such as race and religion, which are already protected under state and federal law, and it would carry fines of $500 for each violation and for each day until a discriminatory practice is resolved.

Advocates are pushing for the passage of such local ordinances in cities across the state in the run-up to what's expected to be one of the most controversial issues in next year's legislative session.

They say the state needs to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to Indiana's civil rights law to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. They say Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act raised fears that religious beliefs could be cited as reasons to discriminate in business transactions, housing, employment and education.

In Carmel, many say such an ordinance would further economic interests, attracting new businesses and jobs by showing the city is open to all.

Resident Kendal Summers said he supported the ordinance as a symbolic move to distance Carmel from the national backlash against RFRA, so that existing businesses would continue to invest in the city.

"Carmel is not what it is because of social conservatives," he said. "Carmel is what it is because of free enterprise."

Opponents, however, say legal protections for LGBT Hoosiers give "special rights" while violating the First Amendment rights of devout religious believers.

The Rev. Richard Doerr from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church voiced concerns over the "presumed definition of discrimination."

"The proposed ordinance creates discrimination against the Catholic business owner," he said. "We must be allowed to respectfully disagree."

More than 100 people filled the meeting to capacity, with several others listening from the hallway outside the council chambers.

After the crowd jeered a passionate opponent, Rider chided the audience: "This is exactly what we're talking about. You don't have to agree or disagree. You just have to be respectful."

Similar ordinances have passed recently in Terre Haute, Hammond and Muncie, joining long-standing LGBT civil rights protections in about a dozen Indiana communities, including Indianapolis.

But efforts to expand nondiscrimination ordinances to include sexual orientation and gender identity recently stalled in Elkhart and Goshen after a concerted effort from conservative lobbyists.

Call Star reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.