News from Indiana ... Discrimination Passes House.

http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2011&session=1&request=getBill&docno=0006&doctype=HJR
DIGEST OF HJ0006 (Updated February 15, 2011 5:51 pm - DI 84)

Marriage. Provides that only marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Indiana. Provides that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized. This proposed amendment has not been previously agreed to by a general assembly.
 
http://www.masson.us/blog/?p=7169
 
A little hat tip to Doug Masson -- the blogger above -- on his comments on this subject. 

I've always found the phrases "sanctity of marriage" and "protection of marriage" to be snort-worthy.  In my 37 years on this earth, I've been exposed to a number of marriages, not the least of which being my own (former) marriage.  Now the State of Indiana, my great homestate, by and through its State House of Representatives, has passed HJR-6.  HJR-6, for those that don't know, is a bill recommending an Indiana Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as only between one man and one woman. 

Let's break this down.

Say I want to get married in the State of Indiana to a guy or, for that matter, to many different men over a number of years.  I can do that, damn near limitlessly, save the court filing fees and lawyer fees for subsequent divorces and remarriages.  My gay friends?  Oh No.  That action of taking a husband (or wife) to a husband (or wife) would be constitutionally outlawed thanks to this year's Indiana State legislature. 

Sanctity of marriage?  Really?  So my marriage (and subsequent divorce) didn't harm marriage for all Hoosiers, but apparently two men (or two women) pledging to spend their lives together harmoniously would do so.   I would laugh uproariously if this were only a joke -- if this were not truly an act of a State legislature, a state to which I hold near and dear.

I do not understand what forces compel those in my former state legislature to want to discriminate, publicly and constitutionally, against people they are paid to represent. 

To say this breaks my heart is true.  It also reminds me that no matter how far I think we (as a Nation) have come in accepting those whose sexual orientation is different than ourselves, there are always those that will never accept what is true, real and present.

My fellow Hoosiers, I'm sorry.  I'm sorry that the state legislature is working to enact discriminatory legislation so that marriage can be "saved."  

My friends, let this day not pass without me saying this: Shame On You, those legislators voting for this amendment.