Indiana Anti-Gay Marriage Measure Blocked From 2014 Ballot!

In a quite surprising result, the Indiana Senate voted to advance a version of an anti-gay constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage that means the measure will not appear on the November 2014 ballot. What happened was that both houses of the legislature have passed in this session a version of the proposed ballot language that is different from the language previously passed so that this newer version has to pass through another legislative session before it can be sent to the 2016 ballot. The difference in the language removed the "second sentence" that would have banned any kind of legal recognition for same-sex couples in Indiana, including domestic partnerships.

The deeply flawed second sentence would have permanently prohibited civil unions, domestic partnerships and other legal protections for same-sex couples and families. The Indiana House removed it earlier in the session, and the Senate today did not offer any amendments to the House version of the amendment.

“Six months ago, if you’d said lawmakers would refuse to put this issue on the ballot in 2014 by stripping out the deeply flawed second sentence, I’d have said there’s no way.

“What happened today at the Statehouse is a testament to the tens of thousands of Hoosiers who have shared their stories with lawmakers and with the public to show the harm this amendment would do to their families and our state. It’s clear that lawmakers listened.

“We continue to oppose the amendment in any form, but make no mistake: This is a huge victory.

“We are grateful to lawmakers for their openness and transparency during this process, and we thank them for conducting the discourse in a civil, respectful manner. We also owe an incredible debt of gratitude to our coalition partners who believed in our mission from the outset and to the Hoosiers who selflessly gave their time, effort and resources to the campaign.

“Today will go down in Indiana history as a win for freedom.”

I wouldn't have thought that today's event had a 10% probability of occurring when Freedom Indiana was announced less than six months ago.

Congratulations, Indiana!