INDIANA: Haters Win First Battle To Overturn Local LGBT Rights Ordinances And Legalize Discrimination

The Indianapolis Star reports:

Conservatives overcame the first hurdle in their lawsuit that aims to overturn the “fix” to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and four city ordinances that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.

In an order issued Wednesday, Hamilton Superior Judge Steven R. Nation rejected claims from the cities of Indianapolis, Carmel, Bloomington and Columbus that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the groups aren’t affected by their ordinances.

He also ordered conservatives to bring their lawsuit against the state, too, since they are challenging the constitutionality of a state law. That tees up a Republican administration against some of its most influential supporters.

The lawsuit also will test the politically controversial RFRA “fix,” and it threatens the local ordinances that LGBT advocates have turned to for legal protections against discrimination in hiring, housing and public spaces — in the absence of a statewide law.

Micah Clark [photo], head of the American Family Association’s Indiana chapter, celebrates via press release:

“We will now get our day in court to argue why we believe that the language of civil rights shouldn’t be hijacked to give privileges to the politically correct and politically powerful, while taking away freedoms from people of faith or traditional values. Every Hoosier should be free to live and work peaceably according to their faith without fear of unjust punishment by a human rights commission or a government agency.”