Friday, March 30, 2007

Will 'Hoosier Values' Drive People Away?

Eli Lilly says marriage amendment would brand Indiana as "intolerant."

From "
Will 'Hoosier Values' Drive People Away?" by Jennifer Mesko, posted 3/29/07, at Citizenlink.org

"Hoosier values" are under fire in Indiana, and Eli Lilly is the latest combatant.

On Wednesday, the pharmaceutical giant became the state's fourth major company to oppose the proposed marriage amendment, which would define marriage as between one man and one woman.

In a letter to Gov. Mitch Daniels, Lilly claimed the amendment would brand the state as intolerant and could jeopardize domestic-partner benefits.

"I can't believe a company with the stature of Lilly and their enormous legal resources would take a corporate position like this without any specific legal reasoning to back it up," Republican Sen. Brandt Hershman, the amendment's author, told The Indianapolis Star.

Carla Cox, a spokeswoman for Eli Lilly and Co., said the amendment would have a negative impact on the firm.

"It would mainly be around recruiting and retention of employees," she said. "We have employees who are telling us they would leave the company."

Read the rest of the article.