Gay Marriage comes to Indiana?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

****READER'S NOTE**** (6/25/2014): The first 5 pages of this topic were originally posted January/February 2014 during the state assembly's vote on a amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Towards the bottom of Page 5, gay marriage was legalized in a court ruling on June 25, 2014. This thread will be updated regarding any developments with Indiana and gay marriage. On June 28th, the 7th Circuit Court issued a stay after Attorney General Greg Zoeller appealed. 
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So, any time today now, the State House of Representatives will bring up the HJR3 up to vote.

The bill will amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Indiana currently has a law that defines marriage as such. To amend the state constitution, 2 sessions of the legislature must vote on it (the 2011 - 2012 session passed it), then Pence must sign it, and it will go to a referendum on November 4th.

Current polling shows 54% of Hoosiers oppose the ban, while splitting 45% - 45% on legalizing gay marriage. There is talk of the state House being divided over this vote



First attempt at a live-update thread, let's see how this goes.

EDIT: If it passes the legislature and goes to referendum, I'll keep this running.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Update: The House is ordering pizza, which means the day is still young. So check back this evening folks!



EDIT: Confirmation that the final House version will be considered today.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

If it went to a referendum, it would probably lose the counties with Indianapolis, Gary, and Bloomington.

I expect roughly every county that went to Obama in 2008 to oppose it, plus many more.

Republican counties(especially suburbs) voted for gay marriage in Washington & Maryland, while defeating the gay marriage ban in Minnesota in 2012.

I expect similar events to occur in Indiana if the referendum is a go in 2014.

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[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Current polling shows 54% of Hoosiers oppose the ban, while splitting 45% - 45% on legalizing gay marriage. There is talk of the state House being divided over this vote

Yeah, I've heard that there is a split among the Republicans. Some don't like the fact that civil unions are banned in this as well and think that could be a possible issue when it would come up to a vote in November, but they also realize with the rate things are going it probably won't have a lot of support if they have to wait another two sessions. Some interesting dynamics.   

This is the 2nd sentence of the bill: “A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.”

No one can say how this would affect  existing marriages, domestic partner benefits, human rights ordinances, legal contracts and benefits for unmarried couples.

If you go to Freedom Indiana's website, under "About" there is a long list of companies, mayors, and local government bodies opposing HJR3, including a good number of Republicans. Mitch Daniels also spoke out against it, I believe.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Discussion of amendments to the bill has begun.....


If it is amended, the whole process must begin again (including the 2 session vote)


Correction: The above sentence may or may not be true. There is a possibility it could go on the ballot still, I'll check.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Amendment to strike the 2nd sentence passes 52-43!



29 Dems and 23 Repubs voted to defeat it

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Amendment to strike the 2nd sentence passes 52-43!

Awesome!

But now the Amendment must pass the Senate. Lemme check the odds there.

EDIT - The house has 68 Republicans, 31 Democrats, 1 vacancy.

The Senate is even worse: 37 Republicans(74%!!!) to 13 Democrats

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Amendment to strike the 2nd sentence passes 52-43!

Awesome!

But now the Amendment must pass the Senate. Lemme check the odds there.

EDIT - The house has 68 Republicans, 31 Democrats, 1 vacancy.

The Senate is even worse: 37 Republicans(74%!!!) to 13 Democrats

But if they don't come to an agreement this session, then it can't get on the ballot, right?

Correct.

Basically passing the amendment has wrecked the bill. If the Senate passes the amendment, the bill is different than the one passed in 2011, so it must be passed by the 2015 - 2016 legislature, and go on the 2016 ballot(a far less favorable climate).

I'm not sure what happenes if the Senate rejects the amendment though

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

UPDATE - The House is debating the amended bill right now.


It's getting intense.

UPDATE - 2:19 CST, voting begins!

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The amended HJR3 has passed the House


Either way, it will not be on the 2014 ballot

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

This is simply political brinksmanship by the dems and the coerced some goprs from bigger cities to play along. The Senate will tell them to put the sentence back in.

And then, it'll get voted down in November. Either way you're going to lose.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Hear ye, hear ye: the Indiana Senate shall vote on the amended ban on Thursday.


That is all.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The Senate passed the amended bill. Which means it will not be on the ballot this year, and the legislative process must begin again.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Good to see the state to the east has moved on from this, at least for now. Approving this would have just solidified Midwesterners' perception that Indiana is backwards and the "south of the north."

No offense to the gentleman from NW Indiana.

It's the legislature that's the problem, not Hoosiers.

The general public ties on legalizing gay marriage (45%-45%), supports civil unions (55%), but opposes amending the Constitution to ban it by ever-increasing margins, from 47%-46% opposed in 2011, to 54%-38% opposing early 2013, to 58%-33% opposing late 2013.

Ban supporters hoped to get it on the ballot this year to take advantage of reduced turnout(as happend in NC in early 2012), but now that the earliest it can be voted on is 2016, when turnout will be huge and attitudes more permissive. And SCOTUS almost certainly will take up the issue again within the next few years, possibly rendering the point moot.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

b) This whole "strengthen Civil Unions, give them all the rights of marriage... but don't call it that!!!!!" Is just so fundamentally silly and illogical to me.

It's a part of the evolution process. All in good time, bud.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

****BREAKING****

U.S. District Judge Richard Young has just ruled the law defining marriage between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. No word if they can begin immediately as no stay has been issued, but Attorney General will appeal.




More Information: Richard Young was nominated to the court for Southern Indiana by President Bill Clinton in July 1997, and confirmed and commissioned in March 1998. He ordered county clerks to issue marriage licenses, and on 6/25/14, 8 counties began issuing them. He was also the judge to order out-of-state gay marriages be recognized on April 10, 2014. The case was Baskin v. Bogan

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I thought that they weren't voting on it this year.

Correct, the public will not vote on a constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman (in addition to banning a ton of other stuff) as a state law already does. However, a federal court ruled the law unconstitutional based on the U.S. constitution. If this is upheld, the amendment would be dead. Permanently. Forever.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Congrats, Clarko JCL.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I'm selfish and wanted to see a referendum on it (to lose of course) because I wanted to study the map.

Awesome news, though! The map continues to fill in!

I too would have loved to participate in the defeat of the ban (both by voting and volunteering), but I guess I'll have to leave that to my imagination. For a map, I would assume it would have looked like Obama 2008, but with more counties voting it down.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

I'm selfish and wanted to see a referendum on it (to lose of course) because I wanted to study the map.

Awesome news, though! The map continues to fill in!

I too would have loved to participate in the defeat of the ban (both by voting and volunteering), but I guess I'll have to leave that to my imagination. For a map, I would assume it would have looked like Obama 2008, but with more counties voting it down.

I don't think Lake would have voted it down. When Maryland voted on it, its heavily Democratic and black county, Prince George's County, voted against equal marriage, although it was fairly narrow. I suspect that equality would have lost some of Obama's ground in NWI but gained in college counties, micro-city counties like in Marion and Anderson and Fort Wayne, and picked up some solid GOP suburban Indy counties north of the city.

I disagree with the bolded statement, as Lake County is only 25% black. If you mean the percentage of voters who would have voted it down would be smaller than the percentage of people voting for Barack Obama in 2008, then yes I would agree with you. When I said "looks like Obama in 2008", I meant it simply in terms of counties rather than percentages. So maybe I should have been more clear on my intent?

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Update : Attorney General Greg Zoeller appealed to the 7th District Court in Chicago for a stay, which the court granted.