INDIANAPOLIS—A bill that would create a hate crimes law in Indiana died in the House before a key deadline last week, its author said, and he did not expect it to be revived this session.

Democratic Rep. Greg Porter of Indianapolis said he was not going to call his bill down for consideration of changes before a deadline last week for bills to advance past the amendment stage. Bills that did not clear the amendment stage would not be eligible for votes before the deadline set for bills to clear their house of origin.

Porter said a couple of amendments filed on his bill by Republicans in the Democrat-controlled chamber would give them a chance to attach political statements to his bill, not ones based on good public policy.

The bill would have allowed judges to consider it an aggravating factor if a criminal selected the victim because of color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex or homelessness.

It also would allow victims to sue for damages if the offenses were committed based on one or some of those factors.

Porter said he objected to an amendment filed by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Lakeville) that would add viable fetuses to groups covered under the legislation. He said he also objected to an amendment by Rep. Jeffrey Thompson (R-Lizton) that would have removed sexual orientation from the bill.

Porter said Indiana was one of only five states without hate crimes laws, and if one were to pass, it would show that Indiana “is a place to live and work for everybody.”