An Indiana Senate panel on Monday will
consider a measure which seeks to put a gay marriage ban in the
state's constitution.
Before approving House Joint Resolution
3 (HJR-3) last month, the House stripped out language which also
banned civil unions and other similar arrangements.
After the House vote, Senate President
Pro Tem David Long announced that the measure would not be vetted in
the Senate Judiciary Committee as he previously had said. Instead,
the proposal will be heard in the Senate Rules Committee, which he
chairs.
Long told the AP that he would “like
to see a clean bill come to the floor for the Senate.”
“I will say that once it comes to the
floor, any and all amendments are going to be considerable and
available. There will be no attempt to block anything. There will
be a full and robust discussion,” he said.
Freedom Indiana, the coalition working
to derail the proposed ban, called on supporters to wear red at
Monday's hearing.
Marriage equality foes want the Senate
to restore HJR-3's original language.
“We'll be working with the Senate to
restore the second sentence,” Curt Smith, president of the Indiana
Family Institute, told the Courier
Journal. “Retaining the second sentence makes the first
sentence much more likely to survive a legal challenge.”
“Urge the Indiana Senate to restore
the removed language of #HJR3 and pass the original version of the
bill,” tweeted Brian Brown, president of the National Organization
for Marriage (NOM).
Altering the proposed ban's language
would likely keep it off this year's ballot, because before an
amendment can head to voters, it needs to pass the General Assembly
in two consecutive two-year sessions. If the House and Senate agree
to the measure as altered, the earliest the modified amendment could
reach voters is 2016.