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.