By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
May 26, 2025
At two town halls, held 48 hours apart in two locations separated by about 115 miles, Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith stirred starkly different responses when he said undocumented immigrants should not be afforded due-process rights.
The state’s second-in-command, speaking last Monday at a town hall inside the city hall building in Ellettsville and Wednesday in the Old Town Hill Baptist Church in Muncie, took questions from the attendees on a variety of topics and then stayed afterward to talk to anyone who approached and to pose for pictures. Although both events followed the same format, Beckwith, a conservative Republican who has described himself as a Christian nationalist, received very different receptions with the Ellettsville’s crowd never stopping their heckling, shouting and, at times, mocking laughter, while Muncie’s much-smaller crowd remained quiet and listened politely.
Seeming to enjoy himself the most when being jeered and challenged by the audience, Beckwith was self-assured, direct and unabashed, whether talking about state policy, his political views or his religious beliefs. He was unreserved as he stated his stance on immigration and due process – a constitutional right that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld as prohibiting the government from depriving anyone living in the United States, whether in the country legally or illegally, of their life, liberty or property without following certain procedures of law.
“So, due process is: ‘Are you here legally? (If the answer is) nope, (then the response should be) get out (of the country),’” Beckwith said. “They have no constitutional rights.”
By the time Beckwith got to the subject of immigration, many people had already walked out of the town hall in Ellettsville, but those that remained angrily hollered back. In Muncie, the group, clustered at the front of the sanctuary, gave a smattering of applause.
In both town halls, Beckwith wove references to the Bible into his answers and justified the elevation of Christianity into the public space because, he said, it is the foundation of the United States. He asserted the Founding Fathers were Christian and infused Judeo-Christian principles into the founding documents.
According to the Journal of the American Revolution, which provides historical research and education about the American Revolution and Founding era, the Declaration of Independence does mention God or a higher power in several places, but has no specific acknowledgement of Christianity. The group also said the U.S. Constitution maintains “religious neutrality” by not containing any reference to God.
Andrew Seidel, vice president of strategic communications at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has told The Indiana Citizen that the Christian nationalist movement is spreading disinformation by claiming the United States was founded on Christian principles.
Beckwith defended his references to his religious beliefs.
“I do not want to shove Christianity down in anybody’s throat. I don’t want a theocracy,” Beckwith said in Muncie. “I believe I’m a Christian. That’s my identity, all right? I love Christ, and he’s called me to steward the nation that he’s given. He’s called me to love my neighbor as myself, right? So I believe Christian nationalism, for me, is loving Christ and then stewarding America as a good American citizen.”
Few of the people who questioned Beckwith in Ellettsville, located near Indiana University’s main campus in Bloomington, were supportive of him or his policies with a majority of the crowd being openly hostile. The lieutenant governor wore a white baseball cap with the number “47” embroidered on the front, a nod to President Donald Trump that inflamed the attendees even more.
A young man, noting that suicide rates decrease among transgender individuals when at least one parent is accepting, asked Beckwith what he would do if one of his own children were transgender.
Beckwith replied that he believes every person has value, but that does not mean the thoughts and actions of every person are right.
“So, if I had somebody in my family that was struggling with transgenderism, I would say, ‘Listen, hey, I love you. I’m never going to stop loving you, but I believe that’s mental illness.’”
When the crowd groaned and started shouting back, Beckwith defended his view. He said, “We don’t treat someone by saying, ‘we’re going to affirm you in your mental illness.’ We treat somebody by saying, ‘you’re thinking wrong. We want to help….’”
The young man pushed back, saying the American Psychiatric Association does not consider transgenderism to be a mental illness. Beckwith pressed, asking if the man thought men could be women and women could be men. When the man responded by saying sex was biological, while gender was about presentation through such things as wearing certain clothes and speaking in a particular manner, Beckwith inquired if that was true in other facets of life.
“If someone wanted to wear blackface, it’s a presentation. Can they be Black if they just put on blackface?” Beckwith asked.
The crowd exploded and as it quieted down, someone could be heard asking, “Why are you bringing that up?”
Later in the evening, a woman stepped up to the microphone and challenged Beckwith on his equating transgenderism with a white person wearing blackface. She said blackface was a deliberate act of mockery rooted in racism that was meant to dehumanize Black people. Conversely, she continued, gender expression is not an act of mockery, but about living authentically.
“One is an expression of identity, the other is dehumanization,” the woman told Beckwith. “Comparing the two is ignorant and offensive. You claim to be Christian, but all I see is a scared man hiding behind whatever you want God to mean, who doesn’t know how to be moral without said God and uses his power to push a narrow extremist agenda. You cannot claim to serve all Hoosiers because you clearly don’t believe all Hoosiers deserve to belong.”
Beckwith stood still and appeared solemn as the woman spoke. After she finished speaking, Beckwith questioned her that if there is no God, how can people know what is good? He said if God is removed, then anything could be considered good and he pointed to Adolph Hitler, who he described as a wicked evil man, and said Hitler thought himself as good.
When the woman responded that she could be good without God and that people have an innate sense of goodness, Beckwith was not convinced.
“I believe that we all have a fallen state of nature. I believe that we are all in a fallen state,” Beckwith said. “If we’re left to our own devices, we will not do what is right. Look at what is going on in the world. I think the heart is deceptive and wicked….”
Beckwith was joined at the event in Muncie by Sen. Scott Alexander, a Republican who represents parts of Delaware and Randolph counties. In front of an attentive crowd numbering about 40, Beckwith focused on a few bills that had passed during the 2025 legislative session.
However, he still infused his Christian religious beliefs into his comments at the Muncie town hall.
Jarrod Hummer, who said he and his wife were saved from addiction nearly eight years ago, suggested Beckwith and lawmakers work on a “parental bill of rights.” In particular, he advocated that the Indiana Department of Child Services be required to contact parents and inform them of their rights before their children can be questioned by caseworkers.
Beckwith was sympathetic to Hummer, describing the culture at DCS as “pretty toxic” and saying the agency has been “pretty hostile” to the faith community. He credited DCS director Adam Krupp, appointed in January 2025 by Gov. Mike Braun, with working to improve the department and said Krupp was considering engaging the faith communities, “because they have the heart, they have the resources, they have the compassion that the government doesn’t have and they could probably be the answer to the problem in a lot of ways.”
As he did in Ellettsville, Beckwith talked about property taxes, criticizing the state’s system of basing the tax on the assessed value of a home and a farm, because the values have been “jacked up,” which has hurt homeowners and farmers. He advocated for property taxes to be based on the purchase price and capped at 1% for homes and 2% for farms.
Beckwith then equated Indiana’s property tax system to the tax collectors in biblical times. He said the tax collectors were among the most “hated groups,” because they could increase the amount of taxes owed and keep the extra after paying Caesar.
“The tax collector had an incentive to make you worth more than you actually were and so they were hated for it and rightfully so, because they were screwing people over,” Beckwith said. “We are doing the exact same thing in this day and age through property taxes, in my opinion. And that’s why people hate it so much, because the government can come as a tax collector.”
In an exchange at the end of the evening, William Kory Amyx, a Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, queried Beckwith about Bibles in schools. Beckwith responded by advocating for the Ten Commandments to be posted in schools, saying the commandments are the moral code and that morality, along with knowledge, should be taught in the classroom. Possibly referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Engel v. Vitale, which stuck down prayer in public schools, the lieutenant governor said morality has eroded since 1962 and has been replaced with murders, teen pregnancies, drug addiction and suicide.
Then Beckwith turned the conversation to transgenderism, asking Amyx if boys can be girls and girls can be boys.
Commending Beckwith on being “very good at redirecting the question,” Amyx reiterated his inquiry about religion in schools. “I’m not going to disagree,” Amyx said. “I actually think that the Bible in schools is good, but I also think that the Torah and the Quran and all the other major religions should be taught.”
Beckwith responded, “I’m not saying you don’t teach other religions, but what I’m saying is you give special credence to the Bible, because it is the pinnacle of the American republic.”
Prior to the town hall in Ellettsville, about 100 people gathered in the park adjacent to the city building and protested Beckwith’s recent comments about the Three-Fifths Compromise. The lieutenant governor had posted a video on social media at the end of the legislative session, calling the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person, as a “good thing” and falsely saying it helped end slavery.
Eleanor, who declined to give her last name, was so angered by Beckwith’s comment that she had trouble expressing her outrage. The evening of the lieutenant governor’s town hall, the 88-year-old had planned on attending a hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse about the prospect of switching from precincts to voting centers, but she went to the protest rally instead.
“My grandson is not three-fifths of a person,” she said, while leaning on the hood of her car waiting for the rally to begin.
As the protesters stood in the grass and started the rally by singing the hymn, “We Shall Overcome,” a handful of children ran around the nearby red, blue and yellow playground equipment. When the speakers gave their remarks from a portable podium, the crowd clapped and cheered.
Jim Sims, president of the Monroe County Branch of the NAACP, said, “Words matter.” He called upon Beckwith to say the Three-Fifths Compromise remarks were wrong and to apologize.
Both Indiana Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, and Rev. Minnassa Gabon of the Unity of Bloomington church, faulted Beckwith for misreading history and spreading a “dangerous belief” that renews the pain of dehumanization. However, both also tried to temper the mood of the crowd by saying they were respectfully asking Beckwith to retract his comment.
“Now, we are not here to shame, but we’re here to shine the light, and to say, you cannot uplift the state by suppressing history,” Gabon told the crowd. “You cannot lead people forward if you refuse to face the pain of the past with honesty and heart.”
During the Ellettsville town hall, Bloomington City Councilor Isak Nti Asare told Beckwith they did not agree on many issues, but they are going to have to work together. He then asked how the people of Monroe County could work with the lieutenant governor.
Beckwith replied that he wanted to work with local communities and was willing to help if they encountered any troublesome regulation or were not getting what they needed from any state agency. Also, Beckwith encouraged Hoosiers to attend town halls and continue to dialogue with him.
Ask what message she was trying to send by attending the Ellettsville protest rally, Eleanor almost started crying. She threw her hands up and said, “I don’t think I have a message. I just want people to be respectful and kind. You don’t have to love everybody, but you can be kind.”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
