Holcomb Goes Woke – American Family Association of Indiana
Same old Silly Song and Dance Hoosiers Heard Before
Last week the Indiana General Assembly easily overrode Governor Eric Holcomb’s veto of House Bill 1041. That is the bill seeking to protect girls’ sports from the radical LGBTQ agenda of allowing mentally confused males into courts, pools, tracks, locker rooms, etc. designated for women.
The response to this from the left was predictable. What they cannot win in the arena of elected representation, they attempt to force through the courts. The ACLU filed suit immediately, hoping to stall or block the law’s implementation.
What was less predictable, but just as disappointing, was the response of our Governor. Rather than recognizing most Hoosier voters want fairness and safety for girls from the “woke” agenda, he doubled down. “There remains zero cases and the process, which is managed by the (IHSAA), is working. I stand behind my decision to veto HB 1041,” Holcomb said.
While it may be debatable as to whether this is happening in Indiana, we do know it is happening elsewhere. Moreover, from the testimony of opponents of HB 1041, one thing is undeniably clear – they want it to happen here! That’s why they oppose the legislation.
Why wait for a girl to lose a scholarship to a male competitor? Why wait for a dude to show up in the girl’s locker room? Being proactive with this legislation is a logical move.
The Governor revealed his thinking even more during his appearance at the Indiana Global Economic Summit speaking alongside the Secretary of Commerce. In summoning up the ghosts of RFRA past, Holcomb returned to the false and tired narrative of homosexual activists being the best and the brightest and driving force in hiring. He claimed that the passage of HB 1041 would prevent some companies from locating in Indiana and prevent Indiana from being able to attract high-paying jobs.
In other words, companies are so concerned about a law that protects 51% of the population (females) that they won’t come to Indiana because we don’t cater to 7/10ths of one percent who are transgender! (In Indiana that % is only 4/10ths of one percent.) Does anyone seriously believe that is a deciding factor for why businesses make relocation or expansion decisions?
Hoosiers heard these same false scare tactics during the RFRA debate only to learn that RFRA had no negative effect predicted by the fearmongers. Not only did RFRA not harm our economy, one of the loudest opponents of RFRA, (Salesforce), expanded its operations here, after we became the 20th state with a religious freedom law mirroring the longstanding federal law.
Indiana is the 17th state to pass this kind of sports bill, and we are not the last to do so. Where are these “woke” companies going to go?
Are we really supposed to think that states with Fairness in Girls’ Sports laws like Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Idaho are economic losers? Are these not the states so many people and businesses in liberal California want to escape to?
Three of the top five of CNBC’s “Top States for Business” have sports bills. An in-depth dive into economic development should reveal there is a whole lot more than social liberalism to business prosperity. One need only look at the Disney corporation stock which has lost a third of its’ value after weighing into the Florida law (supported by most Americans) seeking to protect the innocence of kindergarteners from sexual indoctrination. The slogan “go woke, go broke” may have more truth to it than the claim that protecting girls’ sports is bad for Indiana business.
Making Schools Safer
I am sure that you have had a lot of discussions in your home and seen a lot of reactions to the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It seems that every time this happens the default reaction is to pass another gun control law to add to the thousands of local state and federal gun laws already on the books. Such a reaction is easy, perhaps even lazy, because it is a surface response to the self-indicting problem most of society doesn’t want to address. America has a deep spiritual problem that is creating the mental illness and moral depravity that spawns these murders among us even as household gun ownership in America has declined from half to a third since 1980.
I was disappointed beyond expression when I heard President Biden totally fumble his response to this loss of life in Texas. While he started off so well with a great Bible verse, (PS 34:18 “The Lord draws near the brokenhearted”) within seconds he politicized this tragedy as a means to promote gun control. He couldn’t even wait one day. Rather than unify and mourn with the nation, he stood on the graves of children to advance his political agenda.
The Family Research Council had a very good item on school safety that I think substantively addresses one part of this large problem. If you missed it in their daily email last week, you may want to read it here.
In Their Own Words:
“It’s far easier to slander one’s political adversaries and to demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving birth to unspeakable acts of evil. It’s far less comfortable to ask why despair and isolation and violent hatred is so prevalent in America. It requires a sick soul to drive a truck into a crowded sidewalk, to plant a bomb at a marathon, or to fly a plane into a building. It requires a sick soul to open fire in a movie theater or in a church or in a school. A speeding automobile in the hands of a madman is deadly, as is a jet airplane. Tragedies like the events of [last] week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing. Looking at broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social media bullying, violent online content, desensitizing the act of murder in video games, chronic isolation, prescription drug and opioid abuse, and their collective effects on the psyche of young Americans is both complicated and multifaceted. It’s a lot easier to moralize about guns and to shriek about those you disagree with politically, but it’s never been about guns.” —Senator Ted Cruz
