Indiana Senate Panel Kills Religious Objections Proposal

An Indiana Senate committee has killed a bill that would have thrown out the state's contentious religious objections law and replaced it with more robust protections for the rights of worship, speech and bearing arms.

State Sen. Mike Young, an Indianapolis Republican, said Wednesday that critics who "demagogue" and "fear monger" had mischaracterized his proposal.

It's an awkward time for GOP lawmakers, who are under pressure to adopt LGBT civil rights protections after an uproar last spring over the religious-objections law. Critics said the law would permit discrimination against gays.

The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on Young's bill, and public testimony was not taken. The Senate is set to take up separate proposals Wednesday afternoon that would extend civil rights protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.