When Politicians and Legislatures Bully

There's been lots of discussion about anti-gay bullying in the context of the trial of Dharun Ravi in the Tyler Clementi suicide case, but the instances of bullying transcend the acts of individuals and extent to entire religious denominations, self-styled "pro-family" organizations and, perhaps, worse of all, to legislatures and politicians who ought to know better - and who ought to adhere to the concept of the separation of church and state. Anti-gay bullying by legislatures takes many forms and here in Virginia the end product is where LGBT citizens no matter their age have zero legal protections from discrimination (even state employees can be fired for being LGBT). Sadly, Virginia is not unique in its enshrining of anti-gay religious beliefs in the state's laws. But Indiana seems to have taken anti-gay bullying to new lows in its quest to kill a state license plate program that would have helped provide donations to Indiana Youth Group, an organization that provides a place where LGBT teens could come to be safe; where they could find an adult who would listen, and maybe even a friend in the same situation. The State of Indiana specialty license plate program would have allowed Indiana Youth Group to keep $25 from each $40 plate they sold. This was too much for Republicans in the Indiana Legislature who after fits and starts killed the program for this charity. The New Civil Rights Movement has a piece that looks at this cowardly bullying of LGBT youth. Here are excerpts (read the entire piece to see the lengths these Republicans went to to target the LGBT youth group):

They say no man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child. If the converse is also true, Indiana lawmakers have all been severely diminished in stature these last few weeks. Today, the Republican bullies of the Indiana legislature and their vindictive obsession with making LGBT teens suffer, are very deservedly, On Our Radar.

Once upon a time, in the long ago 1980s, life partners Jeff Werner and Chris Gonzales volunteered at The Gay and Lesbian Switchboard in Indianapolis. Every night they fielded calls from desperate teenagers thrown out by their families. Living in cars. Squatting with friends. Bullied at school until they are one “faggot” away from dropping out. Feeling alone in the world. Feeling hopeless. Thinking about running away. Thinking about suicide. There seemed to be no bottom to the misery pool.

Jeff and Chris and a handful of their fellow volunteers at the Switchboard got it into their heads to help these lost and lonely kids, and with more determination than money, they founded Indiana Youth Group. It began as a place where LGBT teens could come to be safe; where they could find an adult who would listen, and maybe even a friend in the same situation. As it grew in both size and mission, the facility sustained itself with private grants and community fundraisers, and most recently, a partnership with United Way. But there were always more kids in need than funds to help them, so when the State of Indiana opened up a specialty license plate program where a charity could keep $25 from each $40 plate they sold, Indiana Youth Group applied. And applied. And applied.

January 17, 2012 was a happy day for the kids at the Indiana Youth Group. Indiana became the second state (Maryland was first) to green light a license plate to help an LGBT cause. And it wasn’t just the money. . . . The new LGBT plate had a profound psychological effect on the Indiana Statehouse too. They first vented their anger in the direction of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, who had let this “terrible thing” happen. They immediately began working on legislation to take the program away from the bureau and administer it themselves, but with drastically revised rules.

[O]n the very last day of the legislative session by 20 Republican state senators, arrived at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The letter demanded the BMV investigate a “contractual violation” by groups who were offering low number plates as rewards to their large donors. The BMV complied, inspecting the websites of all the groups with specialty plates and yanked the plates of The Four H Club, The Greenways Foundation, and, you guessed it, bye-bye rainbow plate.

But wait. The Indianapolis Colts tout the fact they reward donors with low number plates. Surely with so many eyes on them the legislature would insist on applying the law in the same manner for everyone. Nope. They created a loophole instead. The groups who were awarded their plates by the legislature (like the Colts) could keep their plates and continue to reward their most generous benefactors with low number plates. But the groups granted their plates through the BMV? Those would be removed from the program.