About 300 people rallied in support of GLBT rights at the Indiana Statehouse Feb. 18.

Organized by Indiana Equality, a statewide group that advocates for GLBT equality, the protesters urged Indiana lawmakers to pass legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and to expand the Hoosier State’s hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by bias against GLBTs.

Rep. Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis) drew cheers when he told the crowd that the proposed non-discrimination measure is about “the dream to have a job, the dream to have healthcare, the dream to have justice.”

The protesters also urged legislators to continue to resist pressure from anti-gay groups to pass a state constitutional amendment to ban gay and lesbian marriage. That amendment is considered dead after Indiana House leaders let it die without a vote or hearing last week. Backers of the ban now have to wait until 2012 to try and put the amendment proposal on the state’s ballot again. Indiana state law already limits marriage to the union of one man and one woman.

—Gary Barlow