INDIANA: House Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Anti-Gay Employment Discrimination By State Contractors

Indiana GOP House Rep. Eric Turner, whose marriage ban failed* last week, now wants to make it legal for state contractors to discriminate against LGBT employees. His bill Via the Indianapolis Star:

Some state contractors would be allowed to discriminate against employees based on religion under a provision state lawmakers slipped into an unrelated bill during a House committee meeting today. The change to Senate Bill 367, a property tax bill, would allow any school, college, or religious institution affiliated with a church to hire employees based on religion, even if they have a contract with the state. House Ways and Means Committee barely approved the change on a 9-8 vote. The amended version of the bill was then forwarded to the full House on a 12-7 vote. The change was offered by Rep. Eric Turner [PHOTO], R-Cicero, who also authored the much-debated constitutional same-sex marriage ban.

All of the Indiana House Democrats on the committee voted against Turner's amendment.

*The marriage ban actually was approved, but since it cannot appear on the ballot until 2016 due to a wording technicality, LGBT groups are calling it a win.

UPDATE: The bill passed in the House Ways and Means Committee but GOP House Speaker Brian Bosma has spiked it for now and referred it back to the committee for "further review." Bosma, not incidentally, was one of the main proponents of the gay marriage ban bill.