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WINS for Indiana families!

We wanted to provide an update on the legislative items that IFI has been working on in the Indiana General Assembly. We’re happy to report that we have made progress on several important bills that we believe will have a positive impact on our community.

First, we are thrilled to announce that HB 1608, which prohibits teaching human sexuality topics to students in kindergarten through third grade, passed out of committee on Monday. Additionally, HB 1346, which includes provisions that prohibit schools from requiring teachers to use pronouns or titles that do not align with a student’s biological sex, was amended into the bill.

If you would like to learn more, you can listen to our organization testimony in favor of this bill by clicking here and selecting Monday, Feb. 20th from the archived video dropdown menu. The testimony is at 3:28:45. It includes results from our recent survey which found that of 80% of respondents believe that LGBT issues should not be introduced to students in K-12 public schools. This highlights the importance of protecting parental rights and ensuring that children are not exposed to controversial or sensitive topics without parental consent.

We are also excited to share that HB 1407 has passed out of the Indiana House and is now headed to the Senate.This bill strengthens parental rights by clearly stating that they are fundamental and that parents cannot have their children removed from their care simply because they refuse to affirm their child as anything other than their biological sex.

According to a non-scientific but randomized poll of Hoosiers who identify as center-right, 90.03% of respondents believe that courts should not allow children to be taken away from their parents and placed in foster care because they won’t affirm their child as the opposite sex. The survey was conducted with over 2,000 respondents from all over the state, with no connection to the IFI database.

We are encouraged by this progress and are now shifting our focus to the Senate where our team is working hard to ensure that this important measure is passed into law.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to watch and share our video on HB 1407, which explains why this bill is so important for families in our community.

The Help, Not Harm Bill (SB 480) passed out of the Senate Health Committee with a vote of 8-3. This bill prohibits physicians and other practitioners from providing permanent life-altering medical interventions to children before they are old enough to understand what they are agreeing to.

The Help, Not Harm Bill has garnered support from most center-right individuals in Indiana, with 96.26% of survey respondents stating that minor-aged children should not be allowed to give their own legal consent to life-altering medical procedures such as permanent cosmetic surgery without parent or guardian consent.

The bill has also received tremendous support from the de-transitioner community. Many of these brave individuals came out and testified in its favor. You can listen to those testimonies here by selecting the February 22nd archived video in the dropdown menu.

Finally, if you’re interested in reviewing the roll call votes for any of the discussed bills, you can find that information below:

HB 480: https://iga.in.gov/documents/9c21e16e

HB 1407: https://iga.in.gov/documents/639ca24c

HB 1608: https://iga.in.gov/documents/c801af56

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all who have worked tirelessly with us to advance each of these bills. Your dedication and support have been invaluable, and we could not have come this far without your help.If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.Thank you for your support as we work to protect families in Indiana.

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The Hoosier Leadership Series is Coming!

Are you looking for an opportunity to sharpen your leadership skills and make a positive impact in your community? If so, I encourage you to consider signing up for the Hoosier Leadership Series (HLS).

Established in 2006 with the support of Indiana Congressmen, the Hoosier Leadership Series is a challenging program that provides professionals like you with a unique opportunity to interact with top state and national leaders, subject matter experts, and other conservative leaders from around the state of Indiana. The program’s purpose is to create a movement of high caliber, committed leaders grounded in a principled conservative philosophy and oriented towards thoughtful cultural engagement and service to the people of Indiana and beyond.

The Hoosier Leadership Series pursues three related objectives: identifying, educating, and connecting conservative leaders from around Indiana, equipping those leaders to advance a conservative worldview in their life and leadership, and mobilizing them as a part of an ongoing movement to collectively impact the social, cultural, political, and spiritual landscape of Indiana.

The monthly day-long sessions, taking place from April 2023 to October 2023, offer leadership skills training, critical thinking, and in-depth engagement on today’s hottest topics in the public and private sectors. With a special “who’s who” of speakers and subject matter experts, combined with a trip to Washington, D.C., the Hoosier Leadership Series seeks to educate Indiana leaders on policy and culture. If you want to make a difference and become a part of a movement that is committed to advancing conservative principles in Indiana, then apply for the Hoosier Leadership Series!

If you are unable to attend HLS but would still love to be involved, please prayerfully consider donating or sponsoring a student. Your gift allows other Hoosiers to make a difference in their community and beyond.

Interested in having your business or organization sponsor the Hoosier Leadership Series and attend our trip to Washington D.C. where we meet with Indiana’s Congressional Delegation and other national conservative leaders? Please reply to this email and I would love to explore options with you.

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A betrayal over the holidays…

I hate to belabor the point, but I feel like this could have easily been missed around the bustle of the holidays.

As 2022 was wrapping up, Indiana U.S. Senator Todd Young voted to enshrine same-sex marriage into federal law AND voted for the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. He was the only member of Indiana’s Congressional Delegation to do so.

On a personal level I like Todd. He’s not a bad person. However, when elected officials of either party betray the public trust it is our duty at IFI to make you aware of it. Unfortunately, this is one of those times.

First, the Disrespect for Marriage Act, where Senator Young abandoned the people of Indiana and voted with the woke left to completely undermine the definition of marriage. Only 12 Republicans supported that bill, and one was Todd Young. Democrats and same-sex marriage supporters desperately needed his vote to get this bill passed and he gave it to them. This article fact-checks the bogus claims made by defenders of this legislation, and we encourage you to take a look at it.

Now, Senator Young has also supported a $1.7 Trillion omnibus bill that completely defanged the incoming Republican House Majority by removing their control of government funding for the next year.

Make no mistake, this bill was written by liberal Democrats to support their woke ideology, with earmarks all throughout it to fund programs that are not at all in alignment with Indiana’s values.

Senator Young knew all of this, and crossed the aisle to vote with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer to force through this massive spending bill. With his support, it passed.

I do not enjoy writing this email. We worked diligently in 2022 to get Sen. Young the information he needed to do the right thing and oppose the Disrespecting Marriage Act. He was informed. He should have done the right thing. He did not. That saddens me.

With your help and support, the Indiana Family Institute will continue to fight to make our elected officials accountable to the people, while training the next generation of leaders.

Ryan McCann

Executive Director

Indiana Family Institute

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Tell Your Representatives to Protect Children!

One of my goals for IFI has always been to grow our capabilities so that we are strategically helping Hoosier families who are under attack because of their faith. That growth you have provided through your investment in IFI shows it’s value more and more every day.

We met the Cox family a couple of years ago through the IFI 5 Freedoms Project. They were needing help because the government was attempting to remove their son from their home merely because they wouldn’t affirm him as a female. Over the last 2 years, the Director of the Five Freedoms Project, our own Josh Hershberger, has spent an immense amount of time representing the Cox family and trying to reunite them with their son.

Josh is willing to take this fight all the way to the Indiana Supreme Court, and recently it has become clear that this step will be necessary. You can learn more about the Cox family and their story here: https://youtu.be/xBYeklnPhlY

The legal work done to defend parental rights in court has also informed preparation for our legislative work at the Statehouse. We are tracking a number of bills this legislative session, but two stand out above the rest. These bills would protect parents and children within a culture that seemingly has lost its mind.

It is clearer and clearer with each passing year that Parental Rights are under attack, from a culture that is actively devaluing the connections and security provided by strong families. Thankfully, there are two bills that I would like to introduce to you today that aim to shore up the weak spots in the law, and protect the parents and children of Indiana.

Firstly, we need to talk about the Help, Not Harm Bill (HB 1220 and SB 480). This bill has been introduced in the House and the Senate, to give maximum visibility to this critical issue. This bill will protect children from permanent life-altering medical interventions made before they are old enough to understand what they are agreeing to.

In any medical procedure, an important element is informed consent. To have informed consent, a patient must be fully aware of the risks and side-effects of a given medical intervention. Children cannot understand what they are giving away when they sign away their health body parts, their fertility, and their chance at growing out of gender dysphoria naturally without medical intervention.

The medical industry is supposed to police this internally, with strong penalties for doctors who do not get informed consent from their patients, but they have dropped the ball. The Help, Not Harm Bill forces them to pick it back up.

Just as a child cannot consent to a legal contract, a child cannot consent to the serious long-term harm puberty blocking drugs, opposite-sex hormones and/or surgery to remove health body parts will do to them. It saddens me that we need a law like this to remind activists in the medical community that they must “First, do no harm”, but as this issue has become ideological, they have ignored the best interests of the children involved.

Here in Indiana, we saw that, and are moving to fix it with the Help, Not Harm Bill (HB 1220 and SB 480).

Please, take a moment and reach out to your State Representative and State Senator and let them know you want them to vote “Yes” on the Help, Not Harm Bill. If you click here, we have made it easy.

The second bill I’d like to bring to your attention is HB 1407, mentioned in the video above. HB 1407 strengthens parental rights by stating in clear language that parental rights are fundamental and that refusing to affirm your child as anything other than their biological sex is not a reason for the state to remove your child from your care. We firmly believe that the existing law was intended to provide this protection, but courts and the bureaucracy are interpreting the law in a way that ignores parental rights. HB 1407 will add clear and concise language that cannot be misinterpreted or ignored.

The Cox family has lost so much in this struggle against government overreach, but their sacrifice has highlighted a danger that all parents in Indiana need to be aware of. HB 1407 is an incredibly important bill to help solve this problem.

Please, take a moment and reach out to your representatives and let them know you want them to vote Yes on HB 1407. If you click here, we have made it easy.

These two bills are key to protecting the rights of parents, and the innocence of children.

In addition to contacting your legislators we ask that you pray for the Cox family, children who are suffering from Gender Dysphoria, and those children that have already suffered harm to their bodies.

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Legislative Session Has Begun

It is the start of another year, and another session of the legislature has begun. Each session, our team here at the Indiana Family Institute has a selection of bills that we focus on, and this year is no exception.

As always, we are a leading voice on public policy, research, and education regarding the health and well-being of all Hoosier families. This session, we will continue to protect the fundamental rights of children and families; while promoting bills that bring Hoosier principles back to the forefront.

The bill I want to bring to your attention today is House Bill 1220, and its counterpart in the Senate, which would protect minors from puberty blocking drugs, cross sex hormones and surgery to remove healthy body parts in an attempt to appear as the opposite sex. We don’t currently have the Senate Bill number, but will likely have that for you by next week. In Indiana, Planned Parenthood, three major hospitals, and family practices offer puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries to children, adolescents, and adults. Our heart is to protect kids.

There are severe health complications that come with delaying or halting puberty, taking cross sex hormones, and a lot of complications that accompany the surgeries. Young children are being subjected to irreversible, harmful drugs and exploited by encouraging them to have costly, painful surgeries to change the appearance of their gender. We want to shield children from being deceived into sterilizing themselves for life, possible osteoporosis, and surgically altering their bodies.

Children are not able to consent to getting a tattoo, but the medical industry is willing to amputate healthy body parts that can never be regained, up to and including permanent loss of fertility. No child is able to understand the magnitude of that decision, and Hoosiers understand that. HB 1220 would protect children from predatory medical interventions, and has the support of the Indiana Family Institute.

Recently, “detransitioners”, children who began the process of “transition” and are trying to reverse it and go back to their biological sex, have begun to speak out. Chloe Cole, interviewed below by Dr. Jordan Peterson, has been an incredibly brave voice, sharing what she went through as a 13 year old girl.

Over the last few sessions, we have seen both modest wins and huge victories, and with your help, we will continue to fight for Hoosier values, the family, and our faith.

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