Indiana House committee advances harmful anti-freedom amendment to full House floor

January 22, 2014

This evening, January 22, the Indiana House Committee on Elections and Apportionment voted 9-3 to advance HJR-3 to a full floor vote in the House of Representatives. The vote means HJR-3 is one step closer to passage, and the full House will consider the bill soon.

The vote came after a dark week for democracy in Indiana: Speaker Bosma, who has vowed to push through HJR-3, which would constitutionally ban any and all protections for same-sex couples and their families, assigned the bill to a different committee than it was originally assigned to. The Speaker and proponents of HJR-3 knew that votes in the House Judiciary Committee were uncertain - so instead of letting the legislative process run its course, Speaker Bosma made an unprecedented move to switch the committee. 

Freedom Indiana Campaign Manager Megan Robertson issued this statement in response to the news:

We're disappointed, but we're more disappointed in the jury-rigged process than the outcome today. The traditional legislative path for this divisive amendment was completely upended when Speaker Bosma decided he had to switch committees to shore up enough Republican votes to move it to the floor.

But we are not deterred, and we will continue our fight against HJR-3 for as long as it takes to defeat this harmful amendment. 

Lawmakers heard today from Hoosiers whose lives will be directly and negatively affected if this language is enshrined in our Constitution, and those voices will only grow stronger the longer the issue of protecting our friends, neighbors and families is up for debate."

For months, Freedom Indiana, a coalition of community organizations, businesses, and people of faith across the state, has been working to defeat the anti-liberty amendment. They stand with the majority of residents in Indiana who already agree that HJR-3 will do nothing but harm families in Indiana: A December 2012 poll by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University and WISH-TV found that 54 percent of respondents opposed changing the state constitution to permanently ban same-sex couples from the protections of marriage. Just 38 percent said they supported the amendment.

Learn more about the freedom to marry in Indiana HERE, and show your support for Freedom Indiana HERE. If you live in Indiana, you can take action by calling your legislator HERE and urging them to vote AGAINST the anti-freedom amendment.