Pelath responds to supreme court rulings

INDIANAPOLIS –Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City issued the following statement after today’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings:

“For many years, Republicans argued that nothing was more important than preventing marriage equality. Many Democrats, including me, argued that the prosperity of our workers was pre-eminent.

“Today, there was vindication of Democratic priorities. At the same time, I am embarrassed for those who continue to press the case for inequality.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. The federal Defense of Marriage Act has been ruled unconstitutional. Public support for marriage equality continues to grow at a time when any legal justification for inequality is withering.

“The time has come for Indiana lawmakers to pour their energies into helping our state’s struggling middle class. There is no need to muddy up our state’s highest document with an amendment that is likely to be a blemish on Indiana’s history.

“A number of states now have marriage equality. From them, we have learned several things. Families remain important. People still practice the Golden Rule. And folks have a lot greater concerns than who loves whom.

“We have many problems in the state of Indiana…an unemployment rate that continues to hover over 8 percent, families scrambling to make ends meet, and public schools trying to do more with less.

“We need to fight for changes that make people’s lives better, not waste our people’s vitality on more division.”