INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Equality Action President Chris Paulsen and the allied groups listed below issued the following statement in response to today’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings on DOMA and Proposition 8:
“The DOMA decision is an enormous victory and a joyous day for loving, married couples and their families – and for equal justice under the law. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed that all loving and committed couples who marry deserve equal legal respect and treatment.
“In an additional victory for the freedom to marry, the Supreme Court dismissed the Perry case, ruling that the proponents of Proposition 8 do not possess legal standing to appeal the lower court rulings that invalidated it. This ruling likely means the swift restoration of the freedom to marry in California.
“We are enormously encouraged by today’s Supreme Court rulings, but we know that it will have little effect on the legislative situation in our state.
“Proponents of HJR-6, which would permanently alter the Indiana Constitution to prohibit marriage equality, said earlier this year they would wait for the Supreme Court to act before charting their legislative course. We hope they will forsake HJR-6, but we are preparing to launch a grassroots educational outreach campaign opposing the amendment should they pursue its passage.
“We continue to believe that HJR6 should be abandoned because it runs counter to our core Hoosier values and creates a host of unintended legal consequences.
“A study done late last year by students at the IU Maurer School of Law found a significant number of rights and obligations related to marriage that could be permanently denied under the proposed amendment, and it bears noting that marriage is already strictly defined as between a man and woman under Indiana law.
“Whatever the General Assembly decides, we will be prepared either to support their decision to abandon HJR-6 or to fight the amendment in every community across our state. Hoosiers value kindness and love, and we all deserve to live in a state that doesn’t write inequality into its Constitution.”
ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THIS STATEMENT
American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana www.aclu-in.org
Indiana PFLAG (Parents, Friends of Lesbians and Gays) www.indypflag.org
Indiana Stonewall Democrats
OneVoice Indiana, Dr. William Buffie www.onevoiceindiana.org
Out and Equal Indiana www.outandequal.org/indiana
Pride Lafayette www.pridelafayette.org
TriState Alliance www.tsagl.org
Via press release
