FairTalk members fight for marriage rights in Ind.

Jean Capler and her partner, Jenny, have been together for 15 years. They go to the movies like any other couple, they go out to breakfast like any other couple and they love each other like any other couple.

As two lesbians in the state of Indiana, they cannot get married like any other couple.

This is nothing new to them. Gay marriage has never been allowed in Indiana, and Capler has not made her peace with it. The fact that she can’t marry Jenny weighs on her every day.

Rather than move to another state, she has chosen to stay and fight for equality.

But with the potential institution of House Joint Resolution 6 in 2014, that fight could become much more difficult.

HJR-6 is a constitutional amendment authored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, which states “only marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Indiana” and “a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.”

The amendment has already passed through Indiana’s House and Senate once, and if it passes again in 2013’s upcoming session, it will be put to a popular vote by referendum in 2014.

“By moving HJR-6 this year, we begin the process to put the definition of marriage in our state’s constitution,” Turner said in a 2011 press release. “We are ensuring that our current law, which the vast majority of Hoosiers support, is not overturned by an activist judge.”

To combat HJR-6, Capler helped form FairTalk, a Bloomington-based organization dedicated to fostering discussion about the amendment and working toward marriage equality in Indiana.

The group travels around the state and arranges training sessions to raise awareness and to teach people how to respectfully talk about the issue.

“I knew I needed to do something, or I was just going to be depressed,” Capler said of HJR-6’s first passage through the House.

Since then, she and the other board members of FairTalk, many of whom identify as straight, have worked  to spread the word about what FairTalk considers the dangers HJR-6 poses not only to gay couples, but to straight ones, as well. Capler emphasized the importance of telling people about the second clause of the amendment, which outlaws civil unions and any other kind of non-marriage partnership.

Without an official marriage, couples would not have the right to automatic inheritance of their partner’s estate, they would not be able to share health insurance and they would not have the right to make funeral arrangements for their partner, Capler said. She said the emotional impact is also a factor for her in particular.

“Jenny and I would like to be married, and we can’t, and the message that’s sent is that our relationship doesn’t matter,” Capler said. “We are no more related than if we were strangers on the street in the eyes of the law.”

The larger FairTalk group also formed a small IU chapter so students could become involved. Christine Webb, an IU senior, began as vice president of IU FairTalk in 2011 and is now the president. She has led the group in putting together several fundraisers and setting up tables at community events such as the Farmer’s Market to have conversations about marriage equality.

“The goal is to talk to as many people as humanly possible before 2014, so if it goes to a popular vote, people are educated,” Webb said.

Webb said she believes HJR-6 will most likely reach a popular vote, and while she hopes it doesn’t pass, she understands the challenges FairTalk faces in convincing people. The opposition comes from a moral standpoint, she said, and it’s very hard to change someone’s moral stance.

Even if FairTalk can prevent HJR-6 from passing, Webb said the fight for marriage equality is a much longer one.

“Just because we knock this amendment down, there’s still no gay marriage,” she said. “We’re just back where we started.”

Though both the Indiana Senate and the Indiana House of Representatives passed HJR-6 with an overwhelming majority of 40-10 and 70-26, respectively, Capler said she thinks there is a very good chance of overturning it if it comes to a popular vote.

“I’m counting on that Hoosier common sense,” she said.

Her biggest fear is the sense of finality HJR-6 places on the gay rights movement.

“The worst part of this is that it writes discrimination into (the state’s) bill of rights and constitution,” she said. “It’ll close the door for future change. Let’s leave the door open to talk about this.”