Poll finds growing support in Indiana for LGBT protections

A new poll shows growing support for adding protections for gay and transgender Hoosiers into state law.

The survey of likely Hoosier voters by WISH-TV and Ball State University found 58.5 percent support expanding Indiana's civil rights law to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

That’s an increase of 8 percentage points from a similar IndyStar poll released last December ahead of the 2016 legislative session where bills calling for those protections ultimately failed. The inaction came despite many of the provisions being authored by Republicans who control the General Assembly.

More Hoosiers backing the protections is a sign of the public’s growing awareness of the issue, said Mark Fisher, vice president of government relations for the Indy Chamber that runs Indiana Competes, a coalition of businesses advocating for the change.

“As more communities have enacted their own ordinances and some of the dire predictions of the opposition has not come true, people are starting to wake up — this is pretty common sense stuff,” Fisher said.

While a majority of Hoosiers supported the protections, 31.6 percent said they opposed them. Nearly 10 percent said they didn’t know.

Whether Indiana should adopt the statewide protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals has been a predominant issue in this year’s race for governor. John Gregg, the Democratic candidate, has advocated for expanding the state’s civil rights law. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, the Republican candidate, has argued that agreement doesn’t exist on the issue, so current state law “seems to be as good as it can get.”

Yet support among millennials for the protections is “through the roof,” said Joe Losco, a political science professor at Ball State. He said it’s “not coincidental” that millennial support for Gregg also is high.

“You got young people who are very alert to this, and it is an important issue for them,” Losco said. “You got the business community very interested in this and pushing it.”

He also senses a bandwagon effect.

“Lots of people who were on the fence about it are kind of giving in to it at this point,” Losco said.

A panel of lawmakers met in August to discuss LGBT rights. Dominating the discussion: whether transgender people should be permitted to use public bathrooms based on gender identity rather than their biological sex.

It's an issue that's carried heavy consequences for North Carolina, whose legislature restricted bathroom access and prevented local governments from passing protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation requires people to use the restroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate. Over civil rights concerns, the Indianapolis-based NCAA pulled its 2016-17 championship events from the state.

Fisher, with the chamber, said Indiana Competes will continue to advocate for updating the state’s civil rights laws. But with the recognition that “there seems to be little compromise on either side of the issue," he said.

“We don’t yet know what the appetite will be for the legislature to take up this issue again,” he said.

The Hoosier Survey represented the responses of 544 likely voters and was conducted Oct. 10-16. The margin of error was 4.8 percent.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter:@indystarchelsea.