Opponents of same-sex marriage said today that they would try again to amend Indiana’s constitution to prohibit gay unions, this time with a re-worded amendment they hope will answer critics’ concerns.
Rep. Dave Cheatham, D-Mount Vernon, and Rep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, said they each will sponsor proposed amendments with identical language, while Sen. Marlin Stutzman, R-Howe, said he would file the amendment in the Senate.
Chances of the amendment getting a vote in this session in both the House and Senate are slim, however. House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said Indiana already has a law banning same-sex marriage.
That law, he said, has “been upheld by every judge that’s faced it.”
Supporters of the amendment “must have living proof that that law’s not being followed,” Bauer said. Otherwise, he added, “we certainly don't want to waste the public's time when we have the critical duties that we have.”
An amendment to ban same-sex marriage passed the House, then under Republican control, and the Senate in 2005. But to change the constitution, an amendment has to pass two separately elected legislatures and then be approved by the public in a statewide referendum. In 2006, Democrats won the House and though the measure passed the Senate again, it stalled in the House.
So, kids, if you're my reader and you are in Indiana (there are a few), make sure you contact your state representative and your Senator. I think Gov. Bayh would come out against it... especially since it's just, at this point, rubbing salt into old wounds.
The response from the Alliance Defense Fund.
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