New committee to hear H.J.R. 3 on Wednesday

After a hearing in one committee on Indiana’s proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage failed to produce a vote, the resolution was moved to a new committee Tuesday.

House Joint Resolution 3 was moved from the House Judiciary Committee to the Elections and Apportionment Committee.

Tory Flynn, communications director for House Republicans, said H.J.R. 3 was one of a number of bills that changed committees Tuesday. She called it a routine procedure.
House Speaker Brian Bosma made it clear he wanted to get the vote to the House floor, Flynn said.

However, opponents of the ban have been critical of the move, because the resolution is more likely to pass in the new committee.

House Bill 1153, the accompanying bill to the amendment, was also moved to the Elections and Apportionment Committee.

A full hearing for H.J.R. 3 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. today in the House chambers.
Matt Marko, the lead IU campus organizer for Freedom Indiana, said there would be more than 100 advocates of same-sex marriage in Indianapolis tomorrow, including about half of the IU Freedom Indiana staff.

At the moment, Freedom Indiana is focusing on talking to students and Hoosiers statewide in order to build up opposition to the bill, Marko said.

The Freedom Indiana staff runs a phone bank on several nights of the week, attempting to connect Hoosiers with their legislators and appeal to lawmakers to reject H.J.R. 3. The phone bank continued this evening.

“We still need to be prepared for the next step of the campaign,” Marko said, adding that they would have to wait for Wednesday’s vote to know how to proceed, given the
different paths the bill could take depending on the vote.

The IU division of Freedom Indiana sent a contingent of students to protest and share testimonies last Monday in the hopes that there would be a vote on that day. When the vote was postponed, Freedom Indiana regrouped, Marko said.

“We’ve been ready for whatever comes our way,” Marko said.

The two parts of H.J.R. 3 reaffirm the existing statute that only heterosexual marriages are recognized in Indiana and prohibit creating a legal status “substantially similar” to marriage, such as civil unions. H.B. 1153 serves to clarify the intent of H.J.R. 3 and the language if it passes and the question of the amendment goes to voters on the general election ballot.

— Rebecca Kimberly and Mary Katherine Wildeman