The Indiana GOP's platform committee on
Monday approved a proposal to reinsert language in its platform
defining marriage as “between a man and a woman.”
Indiana Republicans removed the clause
from the platform two years ago.
Committee approval sets the stage for a
larger debate on the issue when GOP delegates gather in Fort Wayne
next month.
Republican delegate Megan Robertson
told the AP that the party should remain neutral on the subject.
“This is an issue where there are a
variety of opinions within the Republican Party, so the platform
should not take sides on that,” she
said.
The proposal was introduced by lawyer
Jim Bopp, who has previously represented the National Organization
for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous opponent of marriage
equality.
Earlier
this month, a federal judge ordered Indiana to recognize the
marriage of a terminally ill lesbian.