Editorial: A legislative letdown over LGBT rights

The General Assembly and Gov. Mike Pence’s refusal to extend the state’s civil rights law to include sexual orientation and gender identity continues to tarnish Indiana’s image and jeopardize long-term economic prosperity.

Last spring, after a firestorm from passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act blew up in their faces, lawmakers pledged to address legal protections for LGBT citizens in the next legislative session.

But after meeting privately Tuesday, Senate Republican leaders decided to kill legislation that would have protected gay Hoosiers from discrimination. In doing so, they not only failed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers but also their families, friends, coworkers and anyone else in our state who values equality.

Polls show that Indiana’s elected leaders don’t accurately represent the will of 70 percent of Hoosiers, who support adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the civil rights law. Lawmakers’ stubborn refusal to listen to the will of the people could come at a high cost in an election year.

Indiana must be seen as a state that spurns intolerance and bigotry. Yet the failure of legislation this session means LGBT citizens can still be legally discriminated against in most of the state. Sexual orientation or gender identity can be the basis for a landlord to block housing, an employer to deny a job, or a business owner to refuse service. All of that is permissible under current law.

Why Indiana lawmakers killed the gay rights debate for this year

Legislators on Tuesday did not even have the decency to conduct a full debate or to publicly vote on the measure. Their actions reflect a disrespect for those they have been elected to represent.

Senate leader David Long, R-Fort Wayne, made another promise Tuesday that legislators will revisit the issue next year. Let’s hope they do.

But their lack of leadership and courage this year in rejecting inequality is a bitter disappointment.

Gov. Mike Pence and the General Assembly have failed Indiana and its residents, not just those from the LGBT community, but all of us.