INDIANAPOLIS – Senator J.D. Ford (D – Indianapolis) released the following statement in response to Attorney General Rokita’s advisory opinion issued today regarding the use of employees’ stated pronouns in the workplace:

“Attorney General Todd Rokita once again made use of the platform provided to him by Indiana’s taxpayers to make divisive pronouncements on culture-war issues. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the AG has decided to use the LGBTQ+ community as a scapegoat to garner media attention and fan the flames of partisan resentment.

“Representative Mike Speedy (R-Indianapolis), who sought the formal opinion in this matter, himself conceded that the questions he brought to the AG were not based on any actual instances of businesses being threatened with legal action by any employees, transgender or otherwise. Rather, it is clear that this press conference was called in response to guidance from the federal government that the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton to extend the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to gay and lesbian workers also provides certain workplace protections for transgender people. Transgender people are deserving of the protections against hostile working environments that have long been established for other minority communities. Our Caucus is glad to see this acknowledged by our federal government in the absence of protections in state law which we have long called for.

“The only ‘radical gender ideology’ we need to be worried about is that which fuels our state’s drive to single out transgender Hoosiers for ceaseless attacks designed to manufacture outrage and divide our communities. Trans people are just that – people and workers deserving of the same respect as anyone else. We call on the Attorney General and associated elected officials to move on from their hyperfixation on imagined problems, leave vulnerable minority communities alone, and get back to work solving the real issues facing this state.”