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Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Questions Whether LGBT Civil Rights Are ‘Necessary or Even Possible’

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GOP Incumbent Says ‘Religious Freedom’ Takes Precedence Over Nondiscrimination

For a brief moment during Indiana Gov. Mike Pence‘s State of the State Address on Tuesday, it sounded as though he might have learned his lesson from the state and national outcry over his decision to sign an anti-LGBT “religious freedom” law last year.

It sounded as though, after 10 months of studying the issue, Pence would finally heed the calls of Democrats, some business-minded Republicans, LGBT advocates and hundreds of the state’s employers, by endorsing a statewide law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

“Our state Constitution declares that all people are created equal, and I believe that no one should be harassed or mistreated because of who they are, who they love, or what they believe,” Pence said near the end of his widely anticipated speech. “We cherish the dignity and worth of all our citizens. Here in Indiana, we are an open and welcoming state that welcomes anyone, and anyone that doesn’t know that doesn’t know Indiana.”

Then, things took a dramatic turn for the worse.

“Hoosiers also cherish faith, and the freedom to live out their faith in their daily lives,” Pence added. “Whether you work in a church or a synagogue or a temple or a mosque, religion brings meaning to the daily lives of millions of Hoosiers and no one should ever fear persecution because of their deeply held religious beliefs.” 

RELATED: As New Poll Shows 70% Support LGBT Protections, Mike Pence Says ‘Hoosiers Will Know Where I Stand’

Pence told lawmakers the question they face is “whether it is necessary or even possible” to pass LGBT protections while also preserving religious freedom.  

“Our Supreme Court has actually made it clear that our state Constitution protects both belief and practice,” Pence told said. “So, as you go about your work on other issues, know that I will always give careful consideration to any bill that you send me, but legislation must be consistent with the Indiana Constitution. I will not support any bill that diminishes the religious freedom of Hoosiers or interferes with the Constitutional rights of our citizens to live out their beliefs in worship, service or work.”

With that, Pence appeared to dash any hopes that the Legislature will pass a nondiscrimination law in 2016 that has the blessing of LGBT groups. According to professor Sheila Suess Kennedy, former director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, the governor also committed political suicide. 

“He has chosen his side — the religious extremists, the people who really do not believe that gay and lesbian Hoosiers should be entitled to equal rights,” Kennedy told The Indianapolis Star. “And he is certainly entitled to do that, but I think politically it was suicide.”

In November, Pence will face Democrat John Gregg, who supports adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Indiana’s existing civil rights law. 

“Once again Mike Pence has proven he’s just an officeholder, not a leader,” Gregg said in a statement responding to Pence’s speech. “On issue after issue critical to the state of Indiana, he passes the buck, rather than doing the job he was elected to do. His refusal to take a stand for equality is unconscionable given the fact that he created this mess, which continues to damage Indiana’s economy and reputation.” 

Drew Anderson, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, called Pence “delusional,” saying the governor’s decision to sign the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 2015 “threw Indiana into a $250 million economic panic.” In response to intense backlash over RFRA, lawmakers quickly passed an emergency “fix,” but LGBT groups say it doesn’t go far enough. Indiana remains one of about 30 states where anti-LGBT discrimination is legal, although cities like Indianapolis have passed local bans. 

“Mike Pence doesn’t ‘abhor discrimination’ — he actively promotes it, and that is why Indiana’s ‘Hoosier Hospitality’ reputation is in jeopardy,” Anderson said in response to Pence’s speech. 

This year, Indiana GOP lawmakers have introduced several bills purporting to ban anti-LGBT discrimination that contain broad religious exemptions. Lambda Legal, the LGBT civil rights group, said those bills “fail miserably to address the very real issues facing LGBT Hoosiers today.”

“Let’s remember the national fury unleashed on Indiana last spring, when the legislature passed, and Governor Pence signed, a religious refusal law that allowed businesses and service providers to discriminate against LGBT people,” Lambda Legal’s Christopher Clark said. “It is clear from tonight’s address that Governor Pence forgot all about it and he has once again, started to back himself into that same corner.”

The Human Rights Campaign accused Pence of “punting” on the issue of LGBT rights, and Freedom Indiana called his speech “a complete letdown.” 

Not surprisingly, though, socially conservative lawmakers and groups rallied to the governor’s defense. 

Ron Johnson Jr., executive director of the Indiana Pastors Alliance, told The Indy Star that Pence made a “pretty strong statement” and that LGBT protections would mean “people’s religious beliefs, and in particular here Christianity and Christian beliefs, become criminalized, because if you believe what the Bible says about sexuality, you are now a bigot.” 

RELATED: Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Pence Sends Pride Letter, Just Can’t Bring Himself To Mention LGBT People

“That’s what the law tells you — that it is a terrible thing for people of faith who simply respectfully disagree with the LGBT community,” Johnson said. 

Ironically, Pence concluded his speech by reciting lyrics from “Back Home Again in Indiana,” a song made famous by openly gay musician Jim Naibors, who sang it before the Indianapolis 500 for 30 years. 

“For the moonlight is still fair tonight along the Wabash, and from the fields still comes the breath of new mown hay,” Pence said. “The candle lights are still gleaming, thro’ the sycamores, on the banks of the Wabash, far away.” 

Below are a few more reactions to Pence’s speech from Twitter:

 

EARLIER:

Indiana GOP Introduces Nondiscrimination Bill LGBT Group Calls ‘Road Map For Discrimination’

Guess How Much $$ Indiana Spent Fighting Against Marriage Equality In Court

Indiana Spends Millions On PR Firm To Fix Image Fallout From ‘Religious Freedom’ Fight

 

 

Image: Screenshot via RTV6 | The Indy Channel/YouTube 

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News

‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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April 23, 2024

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Republicans in the Tennessee House passed legislation Tuesday afternoon allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons in classrooms across the state, thirteen months after a 28-year old shooter slaughtered three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville.

The measure is reportedly not popular statewide, with Democrats, teachers, and parents from the school, Covenant Elementary, largely opposed. The Republican Speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, at one point literally shut down debate on the bill by shutting off a Democratic lawmaker’s microphone and then smiling.

Ultimately, Republican Rep. Ryan Williams’s legislation passed the GOP majority House as protestors in the gallery shouted their objections: “Blood on your hands.”

READ MORE: Trump Complains He’s ‘Not Allowed to Talk’ as He Gripes Live on Camera

The legislation bars parents from being informed if their child’s teacher has a gun in the classroom.

State Troopers were called to “prevent people from getting close to the House chambers,” WSMV’s Marissa Sulek reports.

“You’re going to kill kids,” one woman had yelled at Rep. Williams from the gallery on Monday, The Tennessean reports. “You’re going to be responsible for the death of children. Shame on you.”

READ MORE: Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones said on social media, “This is what fascism looks like.”

“In recent weeks,” the paper also reports, “parents of school shooting survivors, students and gun-reform advocates have heavily lobbied against the bill, with one Covenant School mom delivering a letter to the House on Monday with more than 5,300 signatures asking lawmakers to kill the bill.”

The bill, which already passed the state Senate, now heads to Republican Governor Bill Lee’s desk. He is expected to sign it into law.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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OPINION

Trump Complains He’s ‘Not Allowed to Talk’ as He Gripes Live on Camera

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April 23, 2024

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At the end of another short courtroom day that required barely three hours of Donald Trump’s time, the ex-president spoke to reporters inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building to complain about a wide variety of perceived and alleged wrongs he is suffering, including, not being “allowed to talk.”

The ex-president’s presence was required only from 11 AM until just 2 PM. Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the ex-president in a case that has already drawn a straight line through the “hush money” headlines to correct them to alleged criminal conspiracy and election interference.

Judge Merchan, for nearly two hours Tuesday morning, heard prosecutors’ allegations that Trump has violated his gag order ten times, and heard defense counsel’s claims that he had not.

It did not go well for the Trump legal team, with Judge Merchan toward the end of the hearing, during which no jurors were allowed, telling Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche, “You’re losing all credibility.”

READ MORE: Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

During the day’s hearing, jurors heard prosecutors’ lead witness, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, David Pecker, explain how he was working to help the Trump campaign.

“David Pecker testifies that, following his 2015 meeting with Trump and [Michael] Cohen, he met with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard,” MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reports. “Pecker outlined the arrangement and described it as ‘highly private and confidential.’ Pecker asked Howard to notify the tabloid’s West Coast and East Coast bureau chiefs that any stories that came in about Trump or the 2016 election must be vetted and brought straight to Pecker — and ‘they’ll have to be brought to Cohen.’ Pecker told Howard the arrangement needed to stay a secret because it was being carried out to help Trump’s campaign.”

Trump did not discuss any evidence against him with reporters, but he did complain about the gag order. And President Joe Biden. And the temperature in the courtroom. And his apparent attempt to stay awake, which has been a problem for him almost every day in court.

“We have a gag order, which to me is totally unconstitutional, I’m not allowed to talk but people are allowed to talk about me,” Trump told reporters, emphasizing the last word in that sentence.

“So they can talk about me, they can say whatever they want, they can lie. But I’m not allowed to say anything, I just have to sit back and look at why a conflicted judge has ordered me to have a gag order.”

READ MORE: ‘Rally Behind MAGA’: Trump Advocates Courthouse ‘Protests’ Nationwide

“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump claimed, falsely implying no criminal defendant has ever had a gag order imposed on them previously. “I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say everything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted because I have a gag order, and I’m not sure that anybody’s ever seen anything like this before.”

Trump then started to discuss the “articles” in his hand, what appeared to be dozens of articles he said had “all good headlines,” while implying they claimed “the case is a sham.”

Trump oversimplified the legal arguments attached to his gag order, as discussed with Judge Merchan Tuesday morning. The judge has yet to rule on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt.

“So I put an article in and then somebody’s name is mentioned somewhere deep in the article and I end up in violation of a gag order,” he told reporters, apparently referring to his posts on Truth Social with persecutes say violated his gag order. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional. I don’t believe it’s ever – not to this extent – ever happened before. I’m not allowed to defend myself and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very, very unfair.”

“Having to do with the schools and the closings – that’s Biden’s fault,” Trump said, strangely, as if the COVID pandemic were still officially in process. “And by the way, this trial is all Biden, this is all Biden just in case anybody has any question. And they’re keeping me, in a courtroom that’s freezing by the way, all day long while he’s out campaigning, that’s probably an advantage because he can’t campaign.”

“Nobody knows what he’s doing. he can’t put two sentences together. But he’s out campaigning. He’s campaigning and I’m here and I’m sitting here sitting up as straight as I can all day long because you know, it’s a very unfair situation,” Trump lamented. “So we’re locked up in a courtroom and this guy’s out there campaigning, if you call it a campaign, every time he opens his mouth he gets himself into trouble.”

Watch below or at this link.

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News

Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

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7 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

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Four years ago today then-President Donald Trump, on live national television during what would be known as merely the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested an injection of a household “disinfectant” could cure the deadly coronavirus.

The Biden campaign on Tuesday has already posted five times on social media about Trump’s 2020 remarks, including by saying, “Four years ago today, Dr. Birx reacted in horror as Trump told Americans to inject bleach on national television.”

Less than 24 hours after Trump’s remarks calls to the New York City Poison Control Center more than doubled, including people complaining of Lysol and bleach exposure. Across the country, the CDC reported, calls to state and local poison control centers jumped 20 percent.

“It was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings. It arguably changed the course of political history,” Politico reported on the one-year anniversary of Trump’s beach debacle. “It quickly came to symbolize the chaotic essence of his presidency and his handling of the pandemic.”

How did it happen?

“The Covid task force had met earlier that day — as usual, without Trump — to discuss the most recent findings, including the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads. Trump was briefed by a small group of aides. But it was clear to some aides that he hadn’t processed all the details before he left to speak to the press,” Politico added.

READ MORE: ‘Cutting Him to Shreds’: ‘Pissed’ Judge Tells Trump’s Attorney ‘You’re Losing All Credibility’

“’A few of us actually tried to stop it in the West Wing hallway,’ said one former senior Trump White House official. ‘I actually argued that President Trump wouldn’t have the time to absorb it and understand it. But I lost, and it went how it did.'”

The manufacturer of Lysol issued a strong statement saying, “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” with “under no circumstance” in bold type.

Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks were part of a much larger crisis during the pandemic: misinformation and disinformation. In 2021, a Cornell University study found the President was the “single largest driver” of COVID misinformation.

What did Trump actually say?

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute,” Trump said from the podium at the White House press briefing room, as Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx looked on without speaking up. “Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, ’cause you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

READ MORE: ‘Rally Behind MAGA’: Trump Advocates Courthouse ‘Protests’ Nationwide

Within hours comedian Sarah Cooper, who had a good run mocking Donald Trump, released a video based on his remarks that went viral:

The Biden campaign at least 12 times on the social media platform X has mentioned Trump’s infamous and dangerous remarks about injecting “disinfectant,” although, like many, they have substituted the word “bleach” for “disinfectant.”

Hours after Trump’s remarks, from his personal account, Joe Biden posted this tweet:

Tuesday morning the Biden campaign released this video marking the four-year anniversary of Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks.

See the social media posts and videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Election Interference’ and ‘Corruption’: Experts Explain Trump Prosecution Opening Argument

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