Yesterday the Indiana Senate Rules and Legislative Procedures committee advanced a heavily-amended Trojan horse of a “LGBT rights” bill that will actually makes the lives of Indiana’s LGBT citizens worse if passed.

“Senate Bill 344 provides such a broad license to discriminate based on religion that it is nothing short of a Super RFRA,” said Camilla Taylor, Counsel in the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal. “This bill also does not even pretend to protect transgender Hoosiers, excluding them entirely, which is completely unacceptable. The sheep’s clothing barely covers the wolf. Like last spring, we need all hands on deck. As written, SB 344 is designed to hurt LGBT people in Indiana. Anyone who supports this bill doesn’t have the best interests of the LGBT community in mind.”

According to media reports cost to the City of Indianapolis alone after last years Religious Freedom Restoration Act debacle caused the city to lose an estimated $60M in revenue.

Senate Bill 344 extends very limited civil rights to lesbian and gay people in employment, housing and public accommodations but the bill also includes broad religious exemptions that give businesses and publicly funded social service agencies legal permission to discriminate against LGBT people in Indiana. Furthermore, SB 344 completely excludes any protection for people who are transgender and another amendment added would allow adoption agencies to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, even if they receive state funding