Indianapolis Star columnist Matt Tully in today’s edition blasted the “outrage” and “embarrassment” stirred by Senator Pat Miller’s (R-Indianapolis) controversial legislative proposal to regulate pregnancies by artificial means, a bill aimed at limiting such procedures to married couple only, excluding gays, lesbians and unmarried persons. Tully opened by saying: “Bad ideas often die very hard. But a good thing happened this week: A particularly bad idea died very quickly.”
Tully notes the quick pace Miller’s proposal caught the attention of not only Hoosiers, but the nation as well. He writes: “On Wednesday, a day after the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette wrote about the issue, outrage was all over the Internet. Numerous news outlets from Ms. Magazine to the Chicago Sun-Times, posted the story. Statehouse phone lines filled with what Senate GOP spokeswoman Jamie Jorczak called a ‘firestorm’ of criticism.” Tully is just half right on that. Word of Miller’s proposal spread quickly in the local GLBT community and area blog sites shortly after it was announced last Thursday to a packed room of 600 attendees at Lamba Legal’s dinner in Indianapolis. Mouths literally dropped to the floor. The news was not welcome to such moderate Republicans in attendance at the event, such as Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, Juvenile Court Judge Marilyn Moores and Indianapolis councilors and HRO supporters, Scott Keller and Lance Langsford.
So why is Tully writing about it after Miller announced under overwhelming pressure that she was withdrawing her proposal from consideration by the Health Finance Commission, which she chairs. He writes: “Miller has not ruled out resurrecting the idea when the General Assembly meets in January.” This issue isn’t dead yet folks. As long as narrow-minded legislators like Senator Miller and the far right, led by Advance America’s Eric Miller (no relation to Senator Miller) reign supreme over the legislature, nobody’s rights are safe.
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