INDIANA: GOP Indy Mayor Calls For LGBT Rights, GOP Reps Scamble To "Fix" Bill

GOP Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard today called for statewide LGBT anti-discrimination protections.

Ballard said Monday he is issuing an executive order that anyone who receives money from the city must abide by its human rights ordinance. The mayor called a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss the city's responsde to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mike Pence last week. "Our city thrives because we have welcomed and embraced diversity. And RFRA threatens what thousands have spent decades building," Ballard said. "Discrimination is wrong. And I hope that message is being heard loud and clear at our Statehouse." Ballard said that everyone will be welcome at the NCAA men's basketball Final Four this weekend. "Indianapolis will not be defined by this. Indianapolis welcomes everybody," he said. Later Monday, the City-County Council will introduce Proposition 120, a special resolution denouncing the law and urging the General Assembly to add protections for sexual orientation to state civil rights law. Failing that, the resolution says, the state should exempt local human rights ordinances from the statute.

Meanwhile Republican leaders of the Indiana Assembly are scrambling to cover their asses.