FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – Nick Elchert, president of the Allen County Young Democrats, is fired up.
He says proposed legislation in the statehouse aims to discriminate against transgender and LGBTQ+ people.
“It is targeting and hurting the community,” Elchert said. “When you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us.”
The bill in question is House Bill 1291.
If passed, the bill “replaces the term ‘gender’ with the phrase ‘biological sex’” for certain laws.
“That is where it comes into play of silencing the transgender community because they’re not recognizing them as who they are or who they decided to be,” Elchert said.
The bill is authored by Republican Rep. Chris Judy.
Judy represents District 83, which covers a portion of Allen County and Whitley County.
“Representative Judy is actually my state rep, and I think it actually hurts me more, because he’s hurting one of his constituents,” Elchert said.
Elchert says laws like House Bill 1291 represent the hurdles transgender and LGBTQ+ people have to overcome.
“There’s so much more to be focusing on then being the big bullies down in Indianapolis,” Elchert said.
21Alive reached out to Rep. Judy and the three co-authors of the bill for an interview. As of now, none have responded to our request.
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