Dear Editor,

Many in Warsaw already know there will be competing rallies Sept. 22, in Warsaw. The Indiana Pastors Alliance with Monica Boyer, State Rep. Curt Nisely as well as many other social conservatives will be on the courthouse’s lawn. The Pro Equality Hoosier Rally will convene in the parking lot at city hall.

In recent Supreme Court decisions, striking down DOMA, and the normalization of marriage equality, did a few things. One of those things is setting precedent.

[Justice Anthony Kennedy in his opinion in the gay marriage case, Obergefell vs. Hodges, when he noted that it established the precedent that marriage is “one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men”]

After DOMA was struck down it thew the persecution complex of social conservatives into overdrive.  This resulted in the definition of marriage as “a union between one man and one woman,” to be added to the IGOP’s platform. This was made possible by a threatened walk out by delegate Monica Boyer at the IGOPs convention in 2014. http://howeypolitics.com/PrintArticle.aspx?aid=11439&uid=70f4ee8b-67a9-487f-a411-f1aa86db99a0

The lost battle over HRJ-3 further emboldened social conservatives who ran on platforms of anti-LGBTQ dogma, to double-down on their extremist stances. After RFRA blew up in our collective faces, we still hear these Tea Party activists telling us we they need the government to strengthen the First Amendment.

Last month the Congress advanced a bill to legally protect discrimination.  FADA, https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2802 is a legal fortress for those who would shield their discrimination with their religion, but social conservatives need something to run on, why not continue down the same failed road.

The fix of the RFRA left a hole in civil rights protections for the LGBTQ community, that our state government is incapable of recognizing. Local attempts to remedy this have been met with resistance in Goshen, and Carmel. Resistance spearheaded by groups of social conservatives, packing city council meetings with outside agitators, using unfounded fear of rape, and pedophilia to denigrate an unprotected class of people who are already bullied into the closet or suicide. In Indiana with its rates of sexual violence, this tactic is indefensible.

They encourage the misidentification of LGBT people who they contend are choosing a deviant lifestyle, for being who they were made to be. On the 22nd I’m hoping a diverse bipartisan crowd from all over the state converge on Warsaw to show these social conservative activists the love of the LGBT community.

Monica Boyer and her pastors and her politicians have scheduled rallies all over the state, culminating in Indianapolis in November. I hope those who will stand for equality will meet them in loving opposition at everyone of her events.

Equality is not a partisan issue, a cosmopolitan environment would be beneficial for the individual, and business, expanded local civil rights protections are necessary.

Sincerely,

Pete Tuura