From: James Yorton Subject: ACTION ALERT: Indiana Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 09:19:55 -0600 (CST) [ submitted by LGBTFAIR@aol.com ] URGENT INDIANA LEGISLATIVE ALERT --a joint request for action from Catherine Bailey, Lobbyist, Justice, Inc. Marla Stevens, Dir. of Public Policy, LGBT Fairness Indiana ACTION NEEDED: Please telephone Governor Bayh at (317) 232-4567. Ask him to VETO HB 1346, Parental Rights and Responsibilities. ABOUT THE BILL: The final form of the bill is under negotiation at this time but some form of the legislation is likely to pass before the end of session this week. At its worst, with the parental rights language added back in Conference Committee, the bill would give all rights over children under age 18 to their parents except in cases of child abuse or when necessary to prevent imminent death. It would supercede all other existing statutes which guarantee childrens' rights. This worst form of the bill would, among other things, make condoms more difficult for all to get--including adults, nullify emancipation of minors statutes (and perhaps even existing court orders of emancipation and the contracts that emancipated minors have already entered into), nullify the judicial override of parental consent for abortion, allow teen girls to be forced to have abortions by their parents, deny mature minors' rights to treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and override representative government in the form of elected school boards. At its best, the parental rights language will remain shunted to Summer Study Committee. On a party line vote in Senate Committee and again in an amendment vote on the Senate Floor, the bill's Republican authors have prohibited the Summer Study Committee from concurrently holding a discussion of the rights of children that are in current law which would be nullified by their proposed legislation. This move, besides being morally reprehensible, prevents open, truthful testimony on the measure's real effects, both intended and unintended, and flies against the spirit of free and open government. RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S USE OF HOMOPHOBIC FEAR-MONGERING In a rally at the Statehouse, Monday, March 4th, Bill Smith, head of the Indiana Family Association, told the cheering crowd of nearly a thousand supporters of the bill, that they were fighting a religious and cultural war for the survival of Hoosier families. He claimed, "This is not about Republican versus Democrat or conservative versus liberal, this is about the Mamas and the Papas versus The Village People." Other supporters claimed that the bill's sections limiting the power of Child Protective Services (CPS) to remove children from abusive parents were necessary to protect parents from "family-hating" CPS workers who they believed to be "mostly lesbians". In House Committee, the bill's author, Rep. Jon Padfield (R-Kokomo) and Eric Miller, head of Indiana's largest Christian Coalition affiliate, Citizens Concerned for the Constitution (CCC), asserted that the bill was necessary to prevent "anti-family special interests" from forcing the distribution of condoms in Hoosier schools. Unfortunately, condoms are not currently distributed in Hoosier public schools and, given the fact that such programs would have to first pass local community controlled school HIV planning committees then receive local school board approval, school-based condom distribution is highly unlikely in Indiana in the foreseeable future. Despite this, CCC members have been telling legislators that condoms are actually being distributed now and the legislation is needed to stop the practice. --- _____________________________________________________________________________ * ACTION-ALERT is a moderated mailing list. * * To subscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: subscribe action-alert * * To unsubscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * * In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe action-alert * * Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! * _____________________________________________________________________________