Legislators must be willing to lead

At least he tried.
The Indiana General Assembly’s 2016 session came to an end last week without legislation of any kind addressing the issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual civil rights.
That is no surprise.
It became clear during the first half of this year’s short session that there would be no consensus on the issue. The factions — those supporting universal LGBT rights, those willing to support them only if religious protections were included and those unwilling to support them under any circumstances — were mostly unwilling to compromise.
Sen. Travis Holdman (R-Markle), who represents Jay County, saw that writing on the wall and withdrew his legislation prior to debate on the Senate floor.
Regardless of our thoughts about Holdman’s original bill, or his second offering that removed transsexual rights from the equation, we applaud him for being willing to take the leadership role on the issue.
Holdman was hopeful that compromise could be found. But he also knew before he ever started drafting legislation that he was fighting an uphill battle. He knew he would be bombarded with interview requests. He knew he would get emails and phone calls, many of them nasty in nature.
He was willing, however, to do the job because he felt it was an important issue that needed to be addressed.
Regardless of where anyone stands on the issue of LGBT rights, Holdman is to be commended for that attitude.
There are always going to be difficult issues about which well-intentioned Hoosiers disagree. But they will only get resolved if leaders have the guts to take them on, and to do so publicly.
To his credit, Holdman has proven to willing to do so.
We could use more leadership like that. — R.C.