Indiana

The tension between the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to be protected against discrimination and the right to religious freedom to express condemnation of LGBT people has come to the forefront this week. Indiana Governor Mike Pence and Arkanas Governor Asa Hutchinson have both signed compromise bills that backed off some of the most overt discriminatory impacts of new religious freedom laws in those states.

Pence first signed a law that inspired Connecticut's and New York's governors to ban unnecessary government travel to Indiana and the Angie's List CEO to put an expansion in Indianapolis on hold. About a week later, Pence signed a revision that "eliminates the potential erosion of LGBT protections in communities, including Indianapolis, that have local anti-discrimination ordinances protecting sexual orientation and gender identity," the Indianapolis Star's Tom LoBianco and Tony Cook report. Discrimination against gays and lesbians is not expressly prohibited in the rest of the state, they report.

Hutchinson signed a compromise bill that mirrors the language of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Spencer Williams reports. Another bill rejected by Hutchinson would have provided legal protection even when there was no government action or law. Under the law signed by Hutchinson, "neither state nor local laws or policies can infringe on one's beliefs unless the government can demonstrate that it has a 'compelling' interest and that it is using that 'least restrictive' means to achieve it," Williams reports.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a law yesterday allowing businesses to deny services to gays on the grounds of religious freedom, Reuters' Mary Wisniewski reports. LGBT-rights groups are concerned that the law will be used by businesses that do not want to provide services for same-sex weddings. Proponents of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act said it will allow business owners of all faiths to protect against being forced to act against their strongly held religious beliefs.

After the Republican governor of Indiana reached an agreement to expand Medicaid under Obamacare by imposing new costs on poor adults, promoting healthy behaviors and relying on financing from smokers and hospitals, other Republican-led states might be more interested in signing up more Medicaid enrollees, Kaiser Health News's Phil Galewitz reports. Indiana is the 28th state to expand Medicaid.

The Obama administration granted Governor Mike Pence's administration a three-year waiver from the federal government to make Medicaid more like private insurance by including cost-sharing for receipients below the poverty level.

While advocates favor the expansion, there is criticism for the part of the plan that would lock people out of their Medicaid coverage for six months if they don't pay their premiums, Galewitz reports.

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld a law that bans conditioning employment on paying union fees, Bloomberg's Sophia Pearson reports. The law made it a misdemeanor to require a worker to pay fees to get or keep a job.

Even though a a federal judge has ruled the judicial election system in Marion County, Indiana, unconstitutional, the system won't be fixed anytime soon, the Indiana Lawyer reports: "Indianapolis voters will go to the polls Nov. 4 and elect 16 Marion Superior judges, but in truth there’s no contest because who will win already is decided. Eight Democrats and eight Republicans selected in their respective parties’ May primary elections appear on the ballot unopposed."

U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Young of the Southern District of Indiana ruled that the law governing the selection of judges in Marion County imposes a severe burden on the right to vote, the Indiana Lawyer reports. The judicial selection system in Marion County also "enabled slating, whereby judicial candidates who made five-figure donations to their county party organizations received ballot preference and the party’s stamp of approval during the primaries," the Indiana Lawyer also reports.

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Professor Joel Schumm said it's likely that Marion County would adopt a merit selection system like other Indiana counties in which judges are appointed by a commission.

The Seventh Circuit ruled today that Indiana's and Wisconsin's bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, the Associated Press reports. Judge Richard Posner, writing for the court, opined that “'the challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction — that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended — is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously,'” the Wisconsin Gazette reports.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who sits in Louisiana, became the first judge to rule that a state-level ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional, the AP also reports. According to the news wire, Feldman opined that "gay marriage supporters failed to prove that the ban violates equal protection or due process provisions of the Constitution. He also rejected an argument that the ban violated the First Amendment by effectively forcing legally married gay couples to state that they are single on Louisiana income tax returns. Furthermore, states have the right to define the institution of marriage, Feldman wrote."

The Tenth Circuit ruled today that Utah's ban on same-sex marriage violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, while a federal judge in Indiana rejected that state's ban on same-sex matrimony, USA Today reports. The 10th Circuit ruling is the first appellate ruling in the country, USA Today further reports.

Even though Indiana bans same-sex marriage, a federal judge ordered the recognition of the marriage of a same-sex couple who wedded in Massachusetts and now reside in Indiana, the Lafayette Journal & Courier, of Lafayette, Indiana, reports. Niki Quasney has terminal ovarian cancer, and she and her wife, Amy Sandler, now are the only same-sex couple to have their marriage legally recognized in Indiana. The judge, however, has not yet decided if all out-of-state same-sex marriages must be recognized in Indiana as a matter of comity, the Journal & Courier also reports.

A federal judge in Tennessee has issued a preliminary injunction against applying that state's ban on same-sex marriage to three couples married in other states that do recognize same-sex marriage, The Tennessean reports. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger said the ban "fails to meet constitutional standards under even a minimal review," The Tennessean further reports.

A lawsuit also is planned to challenge the ban "regarding hose who married in other states and live here [in Tennessee, those who want to end those marriages but can’t obtain a divorce, and those denied typical probate proceedings because their spouses died," The Tennessean also reports.

Meanwhile, three news lawsuits have been filed to challenge Indiana's statutory ban on same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reports. One plaintiff had to pay $300,000 more in Indiana inheritance tax after her same-sex spouse died, the AP further reports.

The Indianapolis Star reports that four same-sex couples have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the state's statutory ban on same-sex marriage. The "lawsuit mirrors the challenge in Kentucky that last month prompted a federal judge to order that state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed elsewhere," The Star further reports.

Indiana's ban on same-sex marriage is statutory, not constitutional. A state constitutional ban is under consideration by the legislature, but that measure won't go to voters until at least 2016.