Pelath: Supreme Court’s lifting of bans on same-sex marriage is “a triumph for common sense”

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City today issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage:

“For a second day, the highest court in the land has struck a blow for common sense.

“After upholding the legality of providing affordable health care for all  Americans, our justices have declared that archaic state laws should not stand in the way of two people who love each other and want to marry.

“Most Americans have been accepting of this day for quite a while now, and perhaps some will also recognize a bit of irony. The final impetus toward lifting a ban on marriage came from the overzealous efforts of lawmakers who could not question their own backward thinking enough to see that our world has changed. Their miscalculations finally went too far, and now they must begin to make peace with their irrational fears.

“But our work is not done in Indiana. In 2016, our state legislature will have to  confront the outrageous inequity that prevents gays, lesbians, and the transgendered from having basic civil rights. I strongly suspect there will be several House and Senate Democrats who will file bills to ensure our laws reflect a changing society.

“And then we shall see what our governor and his supermajorities will do. They won’t have the excuse of waiting on the courts to act. The highest court in the land just did.

“Will they do what’s right? Or will they continue to equivocate and deny votes on the issue? If they do, the explanations that they are simply following procedural rules will ring hollow.

“The Supreme Court justices who voted to get rid of these bans deserve our thanks, particularly our Chief Justice John Roberts, a LaPorte County native.

“For those in the LGBT community, it must have seemed that this day would never come. But it has, and our world is better for it.”