Advocates Call For Hate Crimes Legislation, Again

The Central Indiana Alliance Against Hate asked state lawmakers for a hate crime law Tuesday. Similar legislation has failed to pass, each year, for nearly a decade.

So far, in this legislative session, two bills would include bias as a consideration for sentencing.

Indiana Youth Group’s Kyle Casteel expressed his frustration with the state’s lack of progress.

READ MORE: Lawmakers Put Burden On Opposite Chambers In Bias Crimes Debate

“Here we are for one more session asking these same leaders to finally join the 45 other states in the union who already have comprehensive hate crimes protections on the books,” Castille says. “And though it’s far from the first time we’ve had this debate, I know I’m not the only person who’s not quite sure it will be the last.”

A bias crimes bill passed the Senate in the 2016 session but died in the House. In 2017, the bill never made it out of the Senate after religious conservative groups protested.

Anita Joshi is a pediatrician and Hindu from Crawfordsville. She says she didn’t think she would stay in Indiana when she moved here 20 years ago, but she fell in love with the state. That’s why she says she wanted to speak at the rally.

“This rally means hate is not a Hoosier value. That we love all, that we respect all, that we protect all and that we care for all.”

Indiana is one of five states without a hate crimes law.