INDIANA: Republicans Refuse To Consider LGBT Anti-Discrimination Bill

Via the Associated Press:

Republicans in the Indiana House have turned aside an attempt to extend protections for LGBT residents under the state’s non-discrimination laws in response to the uproar over the new religious objections law. The proposal called for adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Indiana civil rights law covering education, employment and housing. Republican leaders say there isn’t enough time left in the legislative session to tackle such a policy change, and GOP members backed a ruling Tuesday that the proposal didn’t meet House rules for consideration. Senate Republicans on Tuesday also rejected a proposal to create a special committee to study the non-discrimination issue.

RELATED: The state of Indiana has hired a PR firm to repair its damaged image.

The state will spend the coming days building a public relations strategy with the firm and stakeholders across the state and plans to spend $2 million with Porter Novelli, plus however much more is needed in actual advertising buys. "The recent controversy has advanced the thinking of just a lot of people, that you can't take for granted that people know what Indiana is," said Chris Cotterill, general counsel for the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The state took a major public relations hit at the start of the month with the swirl of negative attention surrounding Gov. Mike Pence's signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. There is little doubt that Indiana's national image took a hit, but nobody has been able to quantify exactly how much damage was done.