Lawmakers again seek constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage
INDIANAPOLIS – Several state lawmakers once again want to amend Indiana’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but face major roadblocks in the Indiana House.
State Reps. P. Eric Turner, R-Marion, and Dave Cheatham, D-North Vernon, announced Monday that they are co-sponsoring the Defense of Marriage Amendment. The proposed amendment would define marriage as being between one man and one woman and would prevent the state from granting any legal status similar to marriage that would provide the benefits of marriage to unmarried couples or groups.
House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend refused to allow a vote on the proposed amendment in 2008 and controls whether it will be introduced into the House this term. Bauer’s spokesman, John Schorg, said Monday that the speaker’s position hasn’t changed, and he considers current state law, which already prohibits same-sex marriage, sufficient.
Turner said he hopes to meet with Bauer to make his sales pitch. He cited “activist” state court judges invalidating state laws that barred same-sex marriage in other states as the reason Indiana must amend its constitution to protect one-man, one-woman marriage.
Similar legislation was approved in California, Florida and Arizona in November 2008.
Indiana joins six other states in trying to pass constitutional amendments. If his side wins, Turner said the state would then join the 64 percent of the nation’s population who have already passed the amendment. Another 20 percent of the population already has state statutes that prohibit same-sex marriage.
The current Indiana law reads, “Only a female may marry a male. Only a male may marry a female. A marriage between persons of the same gender is void in Indiana even if the marriage is lawful in the place where it is solemnized.”
For the same-sex marriage ban to be amended into the state’s constitution, it must pass both the House and the Senate either this year or next year, and again in either 2011 or 2012. It then would go to the voters for approval in the 2012 general election.
