Since the Legislature adjourned in March, Freedom Indiana has worked to enact or expand LGBT human rights ordinances in communities across the state, including Hammond, Munster and Valparaiso.

In addition, Lake County and Michigan City prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, though not gender identity.

The issue of how to prevent gender identity discrimination is what prompted Indiana Senate Republicans in February to scuttle a committee-approved plan providing civil rights protections to lesbian, gay and bisexual Hoosiers — but not transgender individuals — tempered with a broad exemption for nearly any entity claiming a religious affiliation.

Senate Bill 344 did not receive a chamber vote after senators filed some 27 proposed amendments, including several "bathroom bill" provisions that subsequently harmed North Carolina businesses after being enacted there.

Wait-and-see approach

Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said it wasn't clear the legislation would pass the Senate, even if any or all of the suggested changes were adopted.

"They didn't want to go through the pain of having all this discussion if, in fact, in the end the bill was not going to move," Long said.