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Senate President Long: RFRA Strife Good For The State

Stan Jastrzebski
/
WBAA News

Indiana Senate President David Long (R-Fort Wayne) is trying to find a silver lining to the kerfuffle concerning the state’s so-called “religious freedom” bill. Long says lawmakers are now more sensitive to issues involving the LGBT community.

He says relevant discussions are now, in his words, "on the front burner" and the entire ordeal was, as he puts it "a good thing for our state to go through."

However, Long insists the original legislation did not discriminate against gays and lesbians and he adds discrimination wasn‘t the intent. He also believes lawmakers have succeeded in reversing what might have become long-term, negative perceptions about Indiana.

"I just can't agree with those who suggest that it, the law, did anything to discriminate, and there's no history of that," Long says. "But that being said, obviously, the perception was otherwise. I think we stopped that in the short term, and I'm pretty confidence long term we'll put that behind us."

Indiana is one of the few states to have a religious freedom bill without also writing into law civil rights protections for gays and lesbians.

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