Fight not over with House vote on revised HJR 3

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City today issued the following statement after representatives passed House Joint Resolution 3, a measure that seeks to place a ban on marriage equality in the Indiana Constitution:

“While some may think that the removal of the second sentence of this onerous legislation might be the beginning of the end for this misguided effort, I think it is better to say that it is the end of the beginning.

“Consider that the measure still must pass through the mysterious ways of the Indiana Senate. Just as the second sentence was removed in the Indiana House, it certainly can be put back into HJR 3 by our state senators, which means we will be right back at square one on this issue.

“But even if the Senate finds favor with the will expressed on Monday by a bipartisan group of House members, there remains one inescapable fact. This disturbing and nationally embarrassing debate will continue to consume our energies.

“As it now stands, in 2016, the people of Indiana still will have to go through a divisive debate on some of the most personal issues that anyone can face. We have not dismantled this stink bomb…we have simply placed a longer fuse on it before it detonates in all our faces.

“This legislation remains completely unnecessary. As I’ve said from Day One, we should be spending our time on Indiana’s real problems.

“There is only one true response to this issue. HJR 3 must be tossed into the trash and never allowed to see the light of day…now or in any other year.”