COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) — An 18-year-old Indiana high school student is organizing what she says is the first gay pride festival for Vice President Mike Pence’s hometown.
Erin Bailey says she proposed the Columbus festival last year for her senior project at Columbus Signature Academy New Tech High School. The April 14 event will feature bands, vendors and a drag queen competition.
Bailey identifies as bisexual and hopes the event will illustrate that the small, conservative community is open to diverse groups.
Pence, a conservative Christian and Indiana’s former governor, signed a 2015 religious protections law creating a legal defense for businesses that objected to serving the LGBTQ community. The law provoked a national backlash and led to boycott threats, prompting lawmakers to make changes to the law.
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The Federal RFRA Act of 1993 was introduced by Chuck Schumer D-NY with a companion bill offered the same day by Ted Kennedy D-Mass. It passed Congress almost unanimously and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Indiana’s version of the RFRA while not verbatim is identical in spirit. Read them both. They are a matter of public record and fairly short. Yet another non-argument by (I don’t know what to call these people) that I will never understand. If you’re going to make a stand and fight for something, at least make sure there’s something real worth the battle. Otherwise you just waste time, resources and you look foolish. Pence is one of the Good Guys. Not perfect, (perfect died on the cross around 2000 years ago), but good. ‘Nuff said about RFRA already!