Five
years of bipartisan advocacy has resulted in the Indiana Senate Republican
caucus voting not to consider Senate Joint Resolution 15 (SJR-15) – the
Marriage Discrimination Amendment – during the 2009 session of the Indiana
General Assembly.
“Indiana
Equality Action and its coalition partners applaud the courage of the Senators
that voted to reject the punitive nature of SJR 15“, remarked Walter Botich,
President of Indiana Equality Action.
Credit
for this success is due to the diligent and continuing efforts of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender Hoosiers, friends and allies. Indiana Equality Action and its coalition
partners – the Human Rights Campaign, Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance,
Indianapolis Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, the Interfaith Coalition on
Nondiscrimination, Stop the Amendment, Citizens for Civil Rights and regional
coordinating committees – thank people throughout the state for contacting
their legislators to tell them hate and intolerance have no place in our state
constitution.
Observed
Indiana Equality Action Vice-President Randy Studt, “Thanks goes out to the
hundreds of individuals that let their elected officials know they had more
important things on their mind such as our floundering economy, taxes, and
education. Our hope is this is the start of a dialog that will continue to move
Indiana forward.”
Proposals
identical to SJR-15 – House Joint Resolutions 7 and 8 were also introduced in
the Indiana House of Representatives.
House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer has previously announced that the
proposals would not be considered during the current legislative session.
Although
the threat of the Marriage Discrimination Amendment has apparently passed for the 2009
legislative session, much work is yet needed to secure basic rights for
Indiana’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens. Indiana Equality
Action is still working with legislators on both sides of the aisle to secure
inclusive bias crimes protections for Hoosiers, amend Indiana’s Civil Rights
law to protect against discrimination based on either sexual orientation or
gender identity, and to insure hospital visitation rights for unmarried
couples.
The mission of Indiana Equality Action is to secure basic rights for Indiana’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) citizens. Organized in 2003, Indiana Equality Action has two primary objectives – amending Indiana’s Civil Rights law to protect against discrimination based on either sexual orientation or gender identity, and ensuring that relationship protections for LGBT couples and families are not outlawed by an amendment to the State Constitution. For more information regarding Indiana Equality Action, visit the organization’s website at www.indianaequalityaction.org or call 888.567.0750.
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