Category: Indiana

South Bend tables vote on LGBT inclusive workplace discrimination bill

LGBTQ Nation • Tuesday, July 27, 2010 • Filed under: Indiana • Comments (0)

The South Bend, Indiana, Common Council has voted to table the human rights ordinance that would have extended employment discrimination protection to its gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender citizens.

About 200 people packed the meeting room Monday night as council members heard more than two hours of public debate about the proposal.

Councilman Oliver Davis, one of the measure’s three sponsors, sought the continuance when it became clear he lacked the five votes needed for a majority on the nine-member council.

Former Gov. Joe Kernan, a former mayor of South Bend, told council members failure to adopt a gay rights bill, ordinance number 30-10, will hurt the city’s image.

“The failure to pass 30-10 sends the message that we as a community are intolerant and we are better than that,” Kernan said.

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Indiana Senate approves gay marriage ban; House defeat likely

LGBTQ Nation • Friday, January 29, 2010 • Filed under: Indiana, Marriage Equality • Comments (0)

The Indiana Senate revived a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages Thursday, approving the measure and sending it to the Democratic-controlled House, where it’s likely to meet a quick death.

The 38-10 vote marked the fourth time the Senate has approved such a provision, which must be approved by two separately elected legislatures before it can be placed on a ballot.

State law already bans same-sex marriages, but conservatives have pushed for the amendment, arguing that it would prevent activist judges from overturning the statute.

Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer of South Bend has repeatedly said that amending the state’s constitution isn’t necessary because Indiana law already prohibits same-sex marriage.

“The Marriage Discrimination Amendment violates every Hoosier’s basic right to fairness and equality,” Randy Studt, president of the gay rights group Indiana Equality, said in a statement. “It’s just an attempt to distract Hoosiers from the greater issues facing Indiana, threatening our state’s current and future economic development.”

More from the Indianapolis Star.

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Indiana senate committee endorses measure to ban gay marriage

LGBTQ Nation • Friday, January 22, 2010 • Filed under: Indiana • Comments (0)

The nation’s ongoing debate over same-sex marriage took the stage this week in the Indiana Statehouse, where a Senate committee endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban the practice.

State law already prohibits same-sex marriage, but supporters of the amendment are making the argument that without being enshrined in the constitution, the courts could end up overturning the law.

The Republican-controlled Senate committee voted 6-4 on Wednesday to approve a proposal that could eventually lead to a constitutional ban on gay marriage and civil unions in Indiana.

But even if the proposal clears the full Senate, it will likely go nowhere in the Democrat-controlled House.

The House and Senate approved a similar amendment in 2006. But the amendment stalled on its required second trip through the legislature in 2007, when a House committee deadlocked on the proposal.

The amendment has not received a hearing in the House since.

Democratic Sen. Tim Lanane says supporters have made a bad amendment worse by proposing to ban not only marriage but civil unions, a possibility left open in earlier versions. He charges the amendment would lock discrimination into the constitution.

Supporters of the amendment said giving Indiana voters the opportunity to add it to the constitution will protect the state’s marriage law from the whims of court and legislative decisions.

Opponents said it amounts to discrimination and is unnecessary because the state already has a ban on gay marriage.

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Prosecutors charge ex-Marine in slaying of gay Indiana professor

LGBTQ Nation • Sunday, January 3, 2010 • Filed under: Indiana • Comments (0)

Don Belton

Monroe County Prosecutors have officially charged 25-year-old Michael Griffin in the murder of an Indiana University professor.

A neighbor found the body of 53-year-old Don Belton in his Bloomington home on December 28, reports WYHR-TV.

When the judge asked Michael Griffin how he pleads to the charge of murder, he responded, “not guilty,” even though, according to court documents, he previously gave a full confession to police that he did commit murder and he had a reason for doing it.

Michael Griffin

The former military man told police that Belton, who was openly gay, sexually assaulted him in front of his girlfriend, while they were both intoxicated on Christmas Day.

And because the assistant professor of English refused to “show remorse,” Griffin stabbed him to death, according to court documents.

Griffin, an ex-marine, confessed to police that he plunged a 10-inch military style knife six times into Belton’s body.

Hundreds of people gathered in Bloomington Friday at a candlelight vigil to honor Belton.

Friends said Belton’s death came as a shock and remembered him as a beloved member of the community.

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Indy’s only gay bookstore to close after Christmas

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, November 28, 2009 • Filed under: Business, Indiana • Comments (0)

Out-Word-BoundOut Word Bound, Indianapolis’ only gay and lesbian bookstore, will close its doors after Christmas, reports the Indianapolis Star.

“It has been a good run,” owners Mary Byrne and Tammara Tracy wrote in an e-mail to customers Wednesday.

For more than a decade, the downtown store has served as a center of gay and lesbian intellectual life, with concerts and book groups meeting there frequently.

Nationally, gay and lesbian bookstores have struggled to compete with larger retailers that now sell books that cater to the gay and lesbian community. Such titles also are available from online retailers.

Earlier this year, the 42-year-old Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York, the nation’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore, closed because of poor sales.

Read more at the Indianapolis Star.

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Gay couple ‘banned for life’ from Wal-Mart after false shoplifting claim

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, November 7, 2009 • Filed under: Business, Indiana • Comments (0)

Couple banned from WalmartSOUTH BEND, Indiana — Joe Paolucci, who along with his twin sons and his partner, Thomas Hitchcock, have been banned from all Wal-Mart stores — not because they stole anything, but because they resisted being taken out of sight by store employees who falsely accused them of stealing.

Apparently, one of the gay fathers went to check out groceries while the other went back to get some Bic lighters, who then separately used the self-checkout aisle to purchase the lighters.

In August 16 incident, they were both detained by Wal-Mart employees, who they said were rude and threatening and demanded they proceed to an isolated area.

When they refused and asked for police to be called, the responding officers were not friendly to the couple either, they say.

After 45 minutes of being separated from their children and each other, one put in handcuffs, no less, they were told that store videotapes showed they had done nothing wrong.

But instead of an apology, the store’s staff read a statement that said they were ”being uncooperative,” and that they were banned for life from all Wal-Mart stores. Continue reading…

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