Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane: Five Republicans Who Said ‘No’ To Legalized Hate

I often make note that the GOP is behind all this anti-LGBT hate in this country, but every so often some Republicans actually take a stand and do what’s right, or, at the very least, what their constituents want.

Case in point: here are five Republican members of the Indiana House that voted against that evil Religious Freedom Restoration Act:

Greg Beumer says he voted against the bill for “personal reasons,” though he admits that he might have voted differently had his vote been the difference in whether the bill passed or not. But, he says, “It was clear this bill was going to pass, which gave me the leeway to vote the way I did.”

Cindy Kirchhofer says that the residents of her Indianapolis district made it very clear to her that they wanted a ‘No’ vote and said, “I don’t vote my conscience. I vote the will of the district.”

Sean Eberhart says that his constituents were not insisting that he vote for the bill, but also says that since the vote he’s gotten more messages of support than condemnation for his ‘No’ vote.

Tom Saunders simply didn’t think the law was a “good idea” and “thought it sent an unwise message. It’s kind of a divisive message.”

Ed Clere sees the bill as a signal about something other than religious freedom and has always been outspoken about the dangers of RFRAs:

“Do we want our sign to say ‘Welcome?’ Or do we want our sign to say ‘Closed for Business?’ Or ‘Certain people aren’t welcome?’ Or, as some have suggested, ‘We don’t accept fill-in-the-blank?’”

So, let me say again, that while I believe most Republicans will always vote against the LGBT community, we need to note the members of the GOP who stand with us, and for equality, and against hate.

So, yeah, thanks to these five for doing the right thing.
via:
photo credits:
Greg Beumer
Cindy Kirchhofer
Sean Eberhart
Tom Saunders
Ed Clere

6 comments:

  1. Another twist and another turn...

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  2. Rare birds indeed! Although Beumer's comments leave a little to be desired. Somewhat wishy-washy.

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  3. Bravo to those brave Hoosier GOP'ers!

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  4. amazing! the GOP will be busting their stones later for supporting "teh gayz".

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  5. Less than enthusiastic reasons for their votes.

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  6. Some of these seem to be semi-apologetic about voting against it. Hardly a resounding 'NO'!

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