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Perhaps the phrase “win at any cost” appears in some Indiana GOP memo about passing a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Because at every step of the way, Republican political leaders have done just that.
Despite the fact that the legislation known as HJR3 — which would have voters decide if they want a ban on marriage equality written into their state constitution — is more than likely unconstitutional and would be overturned by a federal court, as Oklahoma and Utah recently saw, costing the state exorbitant legal fees and even jobs, Indiana Republicans have forged full-steam ahead.
First, Republican Speaker of the Indiana House Brian Bosma pulled the bill, after over three hours of testimony before the House Judiciary committee, because the votes just weren’t there to pass it onto the floor of the full House. Bosma gave it to a committee far more receptive to the anti-gay legislation, which indeed did pass it, as did the full House.
Republican Governor Mike Pence (image)– who, as US Congressman Mike Pence could boast one of the most anti-gay records of his peers — has been offering very vocal support of the legislation, reportedly for months.
And actually, Pence has used his political positions — as a US Congressman and now as a Governor, to try to kill equality for LGBT people. “Marriage must be defended in the Congress, in the courts, and if need be in the Constitution of the United States,” Rep. Pence said in 2010, while speaking at the virulently anti-gay CPAC.
Earlier that year, in a written response to a constituent’s letter about same-sex marriage, Rep. Pence wrote that the “debate is not about discrimination.”
“I believe that if someone chooses another lifestyle than I have chosen, that is their right in a free society,” Pence continued. “But tolerance does not require that we permit our courts to redefine an institution upon which our society is built. Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage.”
The traditional two-parent family is the nucleus of our civilization. Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin found that throughout history, societal collapse was always brought about by the deterioration of marriage and family. Sociologists tell us that children raised by married parents experience lower rates of premarital childbearing, illicit drug use, arrests, health, emotional and behavioral problems, school dropout rates and poverty. Moreover, a five-year study released in 1998 found that continuously married husbands and wives experience significantly better emotional health and less depression than people of other marital status.
Marriage was ordained by God, instituted among men; it is the glue that binds the American family, and the safest harbor in which to raise children. That is why it is so important to put in that most sacred of documents an affirmation of the foundation of our society – traditional marriage.
[Bolding ours]
So much for separation of Church and State.
Now, Pence has stated that he wants the controversial, discriminatory, and vindictive language that the Indiana House removed — which would have prohibited civil unions or even domestic partnerships from ever being sanctioned — to be added back in, and he wants the Senate to vote for and pass the bill. Pence has demanded that the bill be passed and included on this November’s ballot.
So Senate Republican President Pro Tempore David Long, following his counterpart in the House’s lead, has switched the anti-gay bill to the committee he chairs, the Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, so he can ensure it moves to the full Senate for a vote, in the form Gov. Pence requires.
Despite any initial optimism equality supporters may have had over the past few days, that should now be discounted.
In Indiana’s game of anti-gay dirty politics, winning at any cost is the name of there game.
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Video and screenshot:Â WISH-TV, Hat tip: LGBTQ Nation