HRC Condemns Congressional Funding for Indiana Anti-Gay Group ...

14 Sep

Posted by Paul Guequierre on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 3:44pm (approximately 5 mins ago)
0 Comments | Tags: politics, discrimination

WASHINGTON ? The Human Rights Campaign ? the nation?s largest LGBT
civil rights organization ? today condemned four U.S. Representatives
for using taxpayer money to send staff to a political training run by
the anti-LGBT Indiana Family Institute. According to the Capitol Hill
newspaper Roll Call, Indiana GOP Reps. Larry Bucshon, Dan Burton, Todd
Young, and Todd Rokita all paid from $500 to $1000 from their
Congressional office accounts directly to the Indiana Family
Institute, which is a state affiliate of the Family Research Council,
the anti-LGBT organization classified as a hate group by the Southern
Poverty Law Center.

?Typically advocacy groups provide policy advice to Congress for free,
rather than shake down Members of Congress to pay for it with public
funds. It?s a disgrace that public money would be put in the hands of
an organization so fixated on discrimination,? said HRC President Joe
Solmonese. ?Instead of cooking up more anti-LGBT federal policies,
these lawmakers should be working to create opportunities for all
Americans.?

While the payments to the group appear to be a permissible use of the
Representatives? office accounts, they raise questions about the
relationship between the Representatives and the extreme anti-LGBT
group. As payment for a ?Congressional Policy Leadership Series,?
$2,500 was given to the leading group fighting to pass a
discriminatory amendment to ban marriage equality in Indiana. In
addition to sending staff to the training, Members have also donated
their time speaking to the group.

?Taxpayer money should not be used to fund hate,? Solmonese added.
?While these payments may be legal, they aren?t right.
Representatives Bucshon, Burton, Young and Rokita need to explain
their unusual relationships with the Indiana Family Institute and the
Family Research Council.?

The Human Rights Campaign is America?s largest civil rights
organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end
discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that
achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

# # #

Human Rights Campaign, 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20036 United States

Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~glbt/hrc-condemns-congressional-funding-for-indiana-anti-gay-group/

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