By
Mike and Teresa Kendall
Virtually
everyone is “on” to Indiana Governor Mike Pence after his pathetic performance
over the disgusting debate, passage, retreat, and the “fix” of the State’s
so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). But Mike is also on to all of us. He knows that we know he really did not want
to “fix” the original bill and was forced, kicking and whining, to back the
changes that were meant to quiet the critics rather than protect the ones that
would be harmed by the law.
The Gov also knows
that we know he and his political supporters really don’t want to do the right
thing, but something that just looks good to the Right. We are on to this
because the legislature didn’t repeal the “fixed” RFRA and pass a fix to the
Civil Rights Act recognizing equal rights for LGBT people, families, and their
children. The Gov knows the we are on to
the purpose of the March 26th
RFRA signing ceremony, complete with a cast that looked like something
from a Star Trek Convention; a ceremony that was meant to sooth the fears of
his Irreligious Right, and the backers of his discriminatory social agenda.
So
how do we know he knows we’re on to him?
Easy. Mike announced on April 14th
he had hired a New York PR and advertising firm, Peter Novelli, “to help
rebuild the State’s image” in the wake of RFRA.
(Read rebuild Mike’s political image by hiding what was and is in his
heart about the LGBT community.) The Gov
thinks that if we pay millions of tax dollars to repair his political image he
can avoid doing the right thing, amending the state’s Civil Rights Act, and
still please the “Star Trek Cast” he surrounds himself with at the Statehouse.
Instead we need to
call on the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to ask
for and insist that the Gov call a special session of the Indiana General
Assembly after this session ends. The
sole purpose of the Session would be to consider, debate vote on and pass
legislation protecting Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgendered from
discrimination. They would be brought
under the protection of the Civil Rights Act that already exists in Indiana to
protect other persons and groups from discrimination because of racism national
origin, gender age, or disability.
There you go
Legislature and Gov. Fire Novelli. Save two million of our dollars. Help our people who are LGBT get justice and
be protected from discrimination. And,
oh yes, do the right thing and in the process the national news will tell
everyone in this nation what a good place we are and we are not cowards,
hypocrites, and opportunists.
Everybody but Mike
and his political supporters are onto another thing. “The times, they are a changin’.” In fact, they changed. The debate on whether LGBT community should
be treated equally is over among people under 40, people with education, people
in modern technology, people who aren’t convinced the world in about 900 years
old, people who don’t have swastika’s tattooed on their arm or thigh, and every
single business that doesn’t have a death wish.
It’s time for our
political leaders to reflect who we are in Indiana. It’s time to be who we want the rest of
America to think we are, not waste $2M trying to market them into thinking what
we are not.
And it’s time to
call a halt to the PR Plan for Pence; it’s not a plan for us or the LGBT
community, but a plan to save Mike’s political career. What the Gov doesn’t want to do is actually
invite, serve, and dine with any LGBT person at the same table; he cannot charm
his way out of this one. We are on to
you Mike Pence and you know it.
