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Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith speaks from the pulpit at Zion Unity Baptist Church during a news conference on Wednesday questioning the funding for the Kinsey Institute. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
January 16, 2025

In likely one of his first public appearances as lieutenant governor, Micah Beckwith stood at the pulpit in the Zion Unity Baptist Church on Indianapolis’ eastside on Wednesday morning and joined other state leaders asserting Indiana University has failed to provide proof that taxpayer dollars are no longer supporting the Kinsey Institute.

Beckwith, who was sworn in as lieutenant governor on Monday, used the term “wickedness” to describe the controversial human sexual research center at Indiana University – Bloomington. However, like other elected officials, he emphasized he does not want to completely defund IU.

“People want to say, ‘Well, this is just an attack on IU. It’s an attack on education,’” Beckwith said. “No, it’s not. We’re doing this out of love. We’re doing this out of compassion and we’re really doing this because we want IU to be the best school that this nation has to offer.”

The Kinsey Institute and Indiana University have been under fire since an amendment was added to the state biennial budget in 2023, which prohibited using tax dollars to fund any part of the institute. However, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Indiana Comptroller Elise Nieshalla have recently alleged IU is not complying with the law and has not turned over documentation to show public money is not supporting Kinsey.

Inside the small Baptist church, Purple for Parents United, a conservative grassroots organization fighting against what it calls the “harmful agendas saturating the education system,” held a news conference and rally to put more pressure on IU. People filled the pews with a few standing in the back of the sanctuary and applauded or called out “Amen” or read Scripture on their phones as Beckwith and other speakers repeated false claims that the Kinsey Institute sexually abused children as part of its research.

“Kinsey science is to sex what Fauci’s science was to COVID,” Rhonda Miller, CEO of Purple for Parents, said, referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of  Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who drew heavy criticism for promoting masks, social distancing and vaccinations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his remarks at the church, Beckwith said Gov. Mike Braun was aligned on the issues that are concerning to Purple for Parents. After the event, the lieutenant governor said the governor does not like “woke indoctrination” and indicated the governor may take action against colleges and universities around the state.

“He is very much aware of what’s going on in places like IU or upper academic state schools in Indiana and he’s on a mission to get rid of that stuff,” Beckwith said of Braun. “He really wants to go down that path to make sure IU is humming on all cylinders. It’s educating well. It’s getting the (diversity, equity and inclusion) indoctrination out and he’s going to do it. I have full confidence in him.”

Opposition rooted in disinformation

Alfred Kinsey, a Harvard-trained biologist, established what is now the Kinsey Institute at IU Bloomington in 1947. He became interested in human sexuality when he was assigned to teach a marriage and family course but could find little scientific information on human sexual behavior. Much of Kinsey’s data was collected through face-to-face interviews, asking thousands of volunteers about their sexual behavior and experiences. New analyses have found that the data, even though it was not obtained using modern survey sampling and scientific methods, is still valid.

In an October 2024 letter to IU President Pamela Whitten and the board of trustees, Rokita and Nieshalla demanded the university provide its plans for restoring state money, if any, to the university that may have used to fund the Kinsey operation since the law went into effect on July 1, 2023. Also, the state officials wanted IU’s time frame for stopping fees and tuition from supporting the institute and for moving the institute off the Bloomington campus.

IU responded in November, asserting it has no evidence that any state appropriations are supporting Kinsey and added that the fees and tuition paid to the institute by students, their parents or other third parties are not prohibited by state law because that money is not coming from public coffers. Moreover, the university disputed that the state law requires Kinsey to be moved off campus.

Nieshalla spoke at the Purple for Parents event, telling the small crowd that as the elected officeholder who distributes tax dollars, she understands the importance of the law barring state funding to Kinsey.

“I am here standing firm for transparency and the proper use of tax dollars, and am encouraged by the necessary conversations that are occurring with legislators and the university for the sake of moving forward and tackling the questions of full compliance with this law,” Nieshalla said.

The comptroller’s office stated in an email that Nieshalla is not asking for IU to be defunded.

While money is at the center of the fight between the state and IU, the speakers at the news conference emphasized their concern was with the Kinsey Institute and the research it does on human sexuality.

 

Former state Rep. Cindy Noe talked about her opposition to the Kinsey Institute during the news conference at Zion Unity Baptist Church on Wednesday. Seated behind her are (from left) Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and state Reps. Craig Haggard and Lorissa Sweet. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

 

Former state Rep. Cindy Noe, a Republican who served more than 10 years in the Indiana General Assembly before being defeated in 2012 by Democrat Christina Hale, has long opposed the Kinsey Institute. Speaking at the church, Noe recalled a tour she took of Kinsey about 15 years earlier and called the institute “disgusting.”

Noe linked the Kinsey Institute to what she said was an increase in pornography and sex trafficking, children becoming sexually active at younger ages, reduced protections for women and children from sexually related offenses, and the bringing of sex education to schools, including making sexually explicit material accessible in classrooms. The former lawmaker did not provide any evidence for her assertions.

Placing Kinsey’s two books on male and female sexual behavior on the pulpit, she claimed Alfred Kinsey manipulated the data to prove his predetermined presumptions that all sexual activity “was all permissible and beneficial.”

“I’m here to tell you that Indiana did falter when it came to aligning itself with the Kinsey Institute, but it doesn’t have to stay that way,” Noe said, as the crowd clapped. “We have before us an opportunity to achieve a major course correction. The consequential damage and harm that has come as a result of the Kinsey Institute to our children in society is undeniable.”

On its website, the Kinsey Institute stated unproven allegations and unfounded claims about Alfred Kinsey and his research continue to circulate. The institute asserted Dr. Kinsey did not experiment on children or encourage sexual violence, abuse or assault or approve of child-adult sexual contact.

“Dr. Kinsey and the field of sex research in general are unfortunately easy targets for people who use shocking and outrageous headlines to generate clicks and revenue for publishers of the information,” the institute stated on its website.

Possibly enacting more than a funding ban

Rep. Lorissa Sweet, R-Wabash, who authored the 2023 amendment banning state money from supporting the Kinsey Institute, and Rep. Craig Haggard, R-Mooresville, who was a strong advocate for Sweets’ amendment, attended the rally.

After the rally ended, both Sweet and Haggard said, like the comptroller and AG, that they do not believe IU has turned over the documents needed to prove it is complying with the state law. Also, both said they would want to take action this legislative session if the university does not provide satisfactory answers to the state.

Haggard was careful to explain he does not want to stop the flow of all taxpayer dollars to IU.

“I never said to defund IU,” Haggard said. “I’m not for getting rid of IU or any other university, but if we see something wrong, I believe that’s my job to represent the folks and where their money goes.”

 

People attending the news conference at Zion Unity Baptist Church on Wednesday prayed at the end of the event. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

 

Beckwith said after the event that while he, personally, would like to see the Kinsey Institute closed, he thinks the funding prohibition in the state law should be amended to create consequences for noncompliance. He has not spoken with the majority leaders about this issue, he said, but other legislators he has talked to are supportive of adding enforcement language.

“That’s why this (news) conference was called, because we want people to know there’s a noncompliance issue here,” Beckwith said. “We want transparency. We want to make sure taxpayer funding is being used for good and not evil.”

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.

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