Brian Eason

IndyStar

Mike McQuillen, the minority leader on the Indianapolis City-County Council, is pressing state GOP leaders to remove language defining a strong family as one "based on marriage between a man and a woman" from the Indiana Republican Party platform, likening it to discrimination his own bi-racial family faced in the 1970s.

"It wasn’t terribly long ago ... that families like mine were not 'traditional,' " McQuillen said in an address to the party platform committee at a public hearing in Greenwood. "We didn’t fit in the normal social structures. Perhaps we wouldn’t have been called a 'strong family.' "

McQuillen and former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard were among 20 Republicans who addressed the party platform committee on the issue on Wednesday night at a public hearing in Greenwood. Commenters split 12-8 in favor of removing the provision, reflecting a broad divide on this issue within the Republican Party here and across the country.

On one side are religious conservatives, who believe that the Biblical definition of marriage, between one man and one woman, should be the law of the land, and worry that in a changing legal environment, Christians will be forced against their beliefs to facilitate in same-sex ceremonies. On the other, moderates — concentrated in urban areas like Indianapolis — are pleading for a more inclusive Republican Party, saying that the party's hard-line stance on same-sex marriage and LGBT rights is hurting the party's image with a growing share of the electorate.

McQuillen argued that the provision was at odds with another platform ideal in support of individual liberty, as well as a provision underlining that Republican Party's need to get more Millennials involved with the party.

"What are we to say to the children of gay and lesbian parents, who don’t fit this definition of a strong family?" McQuillen said, according to transcript of his remarks to the committee. "What are we to say to courageous single mothers and fathers, who don’t fit this definition of a strong family?"

Similar language was eliminated in 2012, but added back in 2014 after a contentious debate and a showdown on the convention floor.

The national Republican Party platform takes a similar stance to Indiana's, expressing support for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual institution. That platform was last updated in 2012, when same-sex marriage was still illegal in all but nine states.

Much has happened since then.

A federal district court ruling legalized same-sex marriage in Indiana in 2014, with the U.S. Supreme Court extending marriage equality to the remainder of the country a year later.

In March 2015, the Indiana General Assembly passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, only to backtrack and temper the law amid a national firestorm. Backers said it was needed to strengthen religious freedoms, while opponents said it would allow discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Major employers and conventions threatened to leave Indianapolis in the wake of the bill.

Ballard, who last year spoke out forcefully against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, also testified Wednesday in favor of removing "one man, one woman" from the platform.

"Aren't we the party of less government?" Ballard said, according to a transcript provided to IndyStar. "Then why do we insist upon providing government regulation in the primary personal relationship of individuals? Why is it our business?"

McQuillen, who is white, has two black younger sisters that his parents adopted. In remarks to the committee, McQuillen recalled his family drawing stares at a cafeteria in Greenwood growing up.

"I don't recall being that uncomfortable ever since," he said. "That one very small dose of discrimination was enough for me to know that no one should ever face it."

If the committee's makeup is any indication, moderates face an uphill battle this year.

Appointees include state Rep. Eric Koch, who voted for RFRA and supported an amendment to the state's constitution banning same-sex marriage; Indianapolis City-County Councilwoman Ginny Cain, who voted against a city human rights ordinance to add protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and who opposed the resolution denouncing RFRA; and Indiana Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Misty Hollis.

McQuillen served on the committee in 2014.

Meanwhile, the LGBT rights vs. religious freedom debate continues to swirl around the country. Mississippi and North Carolina recently passed laws expanding religious protections.

A 'vast right-wing conspiracy'?

IndyStar reporter Tony Cook contributed to this report. Call IndyStar reporter Brian Eason at (317) 444-6129. Follow him on Twitter: @brianeason.