IN Legislature Passes Amendment But Loses Battle | The Bilerico Project

As expected, Indiana's HJR-3 passed in the legislature, but will not be voted on. So in essence, this skirmish is over. Only problem, I'm still trying to figure it all out.

As mentioned in a prior posting, the debacle surrounding HJR-3 started 10 years ago. Something to which I'm still baffled by as that is a lot of bullshitting. But that aside, this article explains what HJR-3 opponents had to do to lose,,,
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Indiana law says that any amendment to the state constitution has to pass through two separately elected assemblies with the exact same language both times. If the legislators had passed the amendment as was written when it passed in 2011, it would have gone to the ballot later this fall.

Instead, opponents convinced enough legislators that the second sentence of the proposed amendment, which would also ban civil unions and domestic partnerships, was a step too far. Polling showed that while numbers were close if the amendment went to the ballot, if it also outlawed all other forms of relationship recognition voters opposed it. Corporations, universities, and business groups lined up to tout how the second half could affect them.

Freedom Indiana, the campaign built to fight the amendment, was led by a sharp Republican campaigner and with the backing of most Democrats already in their pocket, they started targeting moderate Republicans. One by one they changed former supporters minds.

Some of the Republicans switched sides entirely, voting no to the amendment as a whole. Others though, were able to ride the fence on the amendment; they would announce their support for "traditional marriage" but also express concern over the second sentence.

In the end, there were enough votes in the House of Representatives to change the amendment by dropping the back half. It still passed, but with only the first sentence. After the state senate passed that version this week, it was official. There would be no vote on marriage equality in 2014 - when there was a chance the amendment could pass.

If supporters want to continue the fight for the amendment, they'll have to convince a separately elected assembly to revisit the topic. If they do, legislators could bring it back up in 2015 or 2016, pass it like currently reads, and put it on the ballot in 2016. Or, with momentum clearly on the side of marriage equality supporters, the bill could be voted down

IN Legislature Passes Amendment But Loses Battle | The Bilerico Project