Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Carmel And Fishers Mayors Say Open To All: Neither City Prohibits Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation

Many larger Indiana cities have adopted local human rights ordinances barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, including Bloomington, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Michigan City, Lafayette, South Bend, Terre Haute and West Lafayette, even though the state's civil rights law like Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act does not include sexual orientation as a protected class.

Oddly, mayors of Carmel and Fishers, the two largest suburban Indianapolis communities whose mayors are preaching openness and equality in the wake of the backlash over false claims that Indiana's newly-enacted RFRA law allows discrimination against gays, do not have local ordinances protecting their residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Here's what Carmel Mayor James Brainard and Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness had to say about RFRA according to WISH-TV:
The fallout from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is being felt in communities around the state. In Fishers, Mayor Scott Fadness issued a proclamation regarding the bill. In part it simply states the city is and always has been inclusive and proud of its diversity.
Fadness said Fishers aspires to be a “smart, vibrant and entrepreneurial” community and he wants to make sure those looking to locate there – be it a business or a new resident – know they are welcome . . .
“In Fishers we want to send the message to our businesses and our residents that we’re open for business,” Fadness said. “We’re inclusive of everyone and we’re going to continue to further this entrepreneurial culture.” . . . In Carmel, Mayor Jim Brainard said he’s made it clear from the beginning that the state and Carmel welcomes people from all backgrounds and all beliefs.
“One of Indiana’s strengths is always been that we are hospitable and we’re welcoming and this law does not express the way people are in Indiana,” he said. “And we need to fix that as quickly as possible.”
Brainard said the state is “shooting itself in the foot” and needs to “be smarter than that” and hopes the legislature does something soon to remedy the perception that Indiana isn’t about Hoosier Hospitality . . . 
The two Republican mayors aren't alone in their hypocrisy on the subject. Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr., whose city also lacks a local ordinance protecting its residents from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, wants Gov. Mike Pence to resign:
In the wake of Indiana’s controversial new “religious freedom” law, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said Indiana Gov. Mike Pence should resign for the good of the state.
“I’m embarrassed that this guy’s our governor, and I’m embarrassed that they [Republicans] don’t even talk to the minority party when they’re trying to pass bills,” McDermott said. “They don’t talk to Democrats, they don’t care what Democrats have to say. They stepped in it this time.”
McDermott said any CEO who embarrasses his company like Pence has embarrassed Indiana would resign . . .
I’m not embarrassed to be a Hoosier. Hoosiers are great people. They’re tolerant people. They’re smart people. They’re caring and compassionate people. This is not what we Hoosiers are, and Governor Pence knows that,” McDermott said.
Yeah, do as I say, not as I do.

UPDATE: So the Indianapolis Star hosted a debate between incumbent mayor James Brainard and Councilor Rick Sharp. Was the most important questions in the debate about the City's mounting debt or the massive corruption the Star has ignored surrounding Brainard's use of hundreds of millions of city tax dollars to financially benefit a handful of business owners who are stuffing money in his pockets? No. The question was about a human rights ordinance to protect gays against discrimination.
In a mayoral debate Wednesday, Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard and challenger Rick Sharp said they would support enacting a human rights ordinance to protect against discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity.
Brainard and Sharp also said the state's "freedom of religion" law needs to be fixed to ensure it does not allow discrimination.
"Growing up in a little town in Indiana, one of the first things we were taught as kids was that you treat everyone fairly and equally," Brainard said.
"I think he stated it well," Sharp said. "I abhor discrimination in any form."
The moment of agreement was fleeting. Brainard and Sharp found little else in common during the 90-minute debate sponsored by The Indianapolis Star at the Carmel library.
The Indianapolis Star loves their boy Brainard. It doesn't matter how corrupt he is, the Star will never report anything negative on him because he's an unabashed supporter of the Gannett New World Order agenda as dictated by its CIA masters in Langley, Virginia. Brainard fawns all over Barack Obama every chance he can get during his frequent trips to the White House, which may explain why a public corruption task force was given a stand down order with respect to the Carmel corruption.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anybody want a sign, "Closed To Bitchyness?"

Anonymous said...

Gary, why do you say that the law "falsely claims" discrimination.....since indiana does not provide protections to the lgbt community, i am not sure that its accurate to portray the new law as you do. Yes, their is hypocrisy on both sides, but we all know what is at play here....

Gary R. Welsh said...

Because the experience with the federal law, and RFRA state laws or judge-made laws which essentially apply the RFRA standards have a long history of cases involving discrimination, and there is no evidence the RFRA defense has been successfully applied to deny accommodations and services to persons based on sexual orientation. Illinois adopted its RFRA law in 1998. It didn't adopt a statewide non-discrimination law until 2011. Show me the proof where RFRA is being successfully used to discriminate against gays. I've heard a lot of hypotheticals, but the actual case results show the exact opposite outcome.

Josh said...

I wonder if these mayors will support legislation to force people to attend church services since passing laws mandating Christian businesses participate in others sin? I wonder how long it will be before baptist churches are forced to marry gays? Or to have mandated sermons by satanists or atheists?

The Tom Gulley Show Podcast! said...

Where was Mr. Brainard BEFORE the current RFRA flap? Where was Carmel on the subject THEN?

Oh, certainly, when the pudding hits the fan, they're right out front.

What precluded them from passing city ordinance giving protection to the LGTB community BEFORE the PR nightmare?

ANSWER: Nothing. And, since Carmel is 100% TOTALLY steeped in the GOP of Indiana? They didn't wanna make any waves.

As for the RFRA being used to discriminate elsewhere? Well, the inability to understand the difference between the Indiana RFRA and the rest of them is part of the reason Indiana has elected so many religious bigots.

Indiana does not WANT do understand the difference. They want bigotry under the cloak of religious freedom. In addition to wanting to now act alike, "Nothing was really going to happen here."

Did the NCAA, B1G Ten, Angie's List, Salesforce, countless tech firms, CEOs, several cities, numerous states protest the OTHER RFRA laws? Oh. No, they didn't. I wonder why? (I wonder things. People in Indiana apparently DON'T.)

It's because 1) Indiana's state law does not designate sexual orientation as a protected class like race, gender, age--OR RELIGION. Boy oh boy, we CAN'T FORGET RELIGION WHEN WE TALK ABOUT INDIANA AND BIGOTRY.

2) The federal RFRA involves government only. The Indiana RFRA opens the law up to also include private business disputes. Hence, no pizza at gay weddings in Indiana.

Do try to realize that Indiana has a black eye across the entire nation for the SPECIFIC law they were trying to enact.

Rush's followers all beat their chests about how the law has been around two decades. Well, not the same law, bigots.

And, if it's been around two decades without huge protests, businesses leaving states, other states and companies refusing to set foot in the state?

Well, to an intelligent UNBIGOTED person, the glaring difference in reaction MIGHT cause them to think that this wasn't the same law.

Of course, Mike Pence and the Indiana GOP were SPECIFICALLY TOLD what would happen by several groups and businesses.

Their response? Our bigotry trumps your business.

Until the cows came home to roost. But notice how the party line is STILL "Nothing's wrong here! We're back on track!"

Ask a person of color about Elwood, Indiana. Go ahead. See what they say. Darn near 100 years after the Klan was located there.

Think open-minded people and the LGBT community (and the TECH community) are going to forget this?

If you do, you're as dumb as Mike Pence.