Governor Mike Pence doesn't expect to announce a position on a civil rights bill for gays and lesbians until the legislative session is underway -- and doesn't rule out the status quo.
Pence says balancing discrimination protections with constitutional guarantees of religious freedom is a challenge of "great complexity." And he says the deliberations include not only the search for that balance, but whether the law needs to be changed at all.
"We're a state with a constitution and we're a state that cherishes the freedoms enshrined in that constitution," he says.
Supporters of a bill argue it's needed in part to undo damage from this year's religious freedom law, but Pence maintains Indiana's economic growth shows the state's reputation withstood the "difficulty" of the RFRA debate.
Pence shrugs off Democratic criticism for not staking out a position before the 2016 session opens. He says he'll give "guidance" to legislators sometime after they reconvene January 5.
"I have taken time over the past several months to listen very respectfully to people on all sides of the issues and study it carefully, and will continue to do that," he says. "At the right time in this coming session, I'll make sure Hoosiers know where I stand."
Both parties in the Senate have already introduced LGBT bills. Democrats have offered a "four words and a comma" addition of sexual orientation and gender identity to the civil rights law. Republicans' bill incorporates the same language, but adds several sections aimed at discouraging frivolous lawsuits, pinpointing a definition of gender identity and carving out a freedom-of-religion exception for religious groups and small family-owned businesses.
