Indiana's Republican-Controlled Legislature Isn't Listening to Hoosiers on Marriage Equality

[Content Note: Homophobia.]

I know everyone is positively shocked to hear that my state government is behaving like a bunch of retrofuck heapshits yet again. This time, it's another proposal to codify marriage discrimination into the state constitution, despite the fact there is already a state law restricting same-sex marriage and in flagrant disregard for the will of the people:

A clear majority of Hoosiers do not want the state's existing ban on gay marriage and a new prohibition on civil unions written into the Indiana Constitution, according to a new public opinion poll.

The Sept. 17-19 cellular and landline telephone survey of 800 registered voters by Bellweather Research found 64 percent oppose the pending marriage amendment and 36 percent support the proposal. The survey has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percent.

The survey even found 54 percent of self-identified "very conservative" voters are against changing the state constitution to address marriage. Among Republicans generally 57 percent oppose the amendment, as do two-thirds of Democrats and independents.

A majority of Hoosiers also said the state should repeal its longstanding ban on gay marriage and offer some form of legal recognition to same-sex couples, with 35 percent endorsing gay marriage and 38 percent supporting civil unions.

So, just to be clear: A majority of Indiana residents not only do not want discrimination codified into the state constitution, but additionally want the state to repeal its ban on same-sex marriage. And yet our state legislature is plowing ahead in precise opposition to what is wanted by the people who elected them to represent us.

Twenty-eight percent said there should be no legal recognition or rights accorded to same-sex couples in Indiana.

Our elected representatives are literally legislating the will of less than one-third of the entire state.

Megan Robertson, the Portage native leading Freedom Indiana, said the poll shows the Republican legislative leaders pushing for the amendment are out of touch with their constituents.

"Hoosiers do not want our constitution amended, and we hope lawmakers will hear that message and make the right decision during the legislative session to either let this amendment die or vote it down," said Robertson, who has previously managed several Indiana Republican Congressional campaigns.

She said rewriting the constitution to remove protections for certain Hoosiers sends "the wrong message about our state."

"This is the opposite of Hoosier hospitality," Robertson said.

I am so angry and so frustrated to know that the majority of people in this state do not want to discriminate, and yet our state legislature is so dominated by hateful bigots that it doesn't even matter what we want. And I am desperately afraid that, if the legislature is successful, by the time it comes up on the ballot in November of next year allowing mob rule to determine minority rights, the state will have been flooded with so much outside cash to muddy the arguments and confuse voters that equality will lose.

If you can spare it, Freedom Indiana (with which I have no affiliation, by way of full disclosure) could definitely use some donations. We've got a fight ahead of us here.