Brian Bosma, Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives and one of Indiana’s leading opponent of GLBT rights, is holding his annual “Junetoberfest” campaign fundraiser on Monday, June 13th at the Rathskellar Biergarten, right in the heart of Massachusetts Avenue, in an area whose revitalization was driven by the GLBT community.
Bosma is apparently willing to promote gay-friendly Mass Ave as a flourishing tourist and business district while simultaneously advocating the curtailing of human rights for Mass Ave’s inhabitants and their families.
To address this gross act of hypocrisy and injustice to our families, Indiana Action Network is leading a protest beginning at 5:00 PM outside the Rathskellar, where Bosma’s drunken bash is to take place. We will bring our families with us and stand together to show Brian Bosma and his ilk that our families are just as deserving of basic social rights as the “traditional” families his exclusionary agenda professes to defend.
In his tenure as Speaker of House, Bosma has made it a point to push banning same-sex marriage as a wedge issue. “This is the most critical piece of the people’s business,” Bosma shouted on the Statehouse floor in reference to the heavily debated amendment to ban same-sex marriage, which also contains language that would deny any legal recognition for both gay and straight unmarried couples in Indiana. Bosma’s rhetoric purports to protect the sanctity of marriage, but serves only to attack the families of gay couples, undercutting their ability to provide for their children’s security and future.
IAN is inviting all supporters of GLBT rights to join our celebration of diversity and family unity. This man should not get money for spreading bigotry, least of all within spitting distance of one of Indiana’s largest concentrations of GLBT-run businesses.
Running concurrently with the protest will be a fundraiser at Aesop’s Tables restaurant, starting at 6:00. The requested donation is $10 at the door; reservations are recommended. In absentia support and donations can be sent to IAN at PO Box 20705, Indianapolis, IN 46202, or donations can be made online through Ian’s website at http://www.indiana-action.net.
Indiana Action Network is a network of Hoosier activists dedicated to promoting the rights of Indiana’s Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual and Transgender community. Based in Indianapolis, IAN is a direct action group focused on exposing and critiquing how sexism, homophobia and anti-gay oppression affect all Hoosiers.
For more information or to volunteer to assist in planning the protest, please contact Jerame Davis at actionindy@gmail.com.
Fight the power. I hate Bosma and his ilk.