INDIANAPOLIS— The Republican leaders of Indiana’s House and Senate are expected to announce this week they will wait until next year to vote on a constitutional same-sex marriage ban.
From a practical standpoint, it’s no matter. Lawmakers can vote in 2013 or 2014, and either way, if they approve it, voters would get the final say in a November 2014 statewide referendum.
But the decision — and legislative leaders’ attitudes as they make it — says a great deal about how quickly perceptions on the issue have evolved over just the past two years.
Republicans started the clock on the constitutional amendment process when they approved the proposed same-sex marriage ban in 2011. They did so knowing they would need to pass it again in either 2013 or 2014 and calling it important to do so.
Then, voters in four states voted in favor of gay rights during 2012’s election. Now, Republican leaders in the Indiana General Assembly say passing the ban isn’t among their top goals, and Gov. Mike Pence — known for his conservative stances on social issues over 12 years in Congress — is working hard to avoid addressing the issue at all.
To fully understand lawmakers’ transformation on same-sex marriage, though, it’s important to look back a little further.
Nine years ago, Republicans were the minority party in the Indiana House, and Democratic Speaker B. Patrick Bauer (of South Bend) declined their efforts to force a vote on a similar constitutional same-sex marriage ban.
Each time then-Minority Leader Brian Bosma (of Indianapolis) tried to bring the issue up, Bauer ignored him, saying: “We’re going to do the people’s business.”
Bosma shouted back: “This is the most critical piece of the people’s business.” Then, he led his Republican caucus as it walked off the House floor in protest — an episode that repeated itself several times that year.
Now that Republicans hold a House supermajority, Speaker Bosma’s priorities have changed.
A week ago, he responded to reporters’ questions over whether the House would vote on the amendment this year or next year by saying: “Anybody have a real question, an important question?”
His counterpart across the hallway, Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, has similarly said the issue just isn’t a priority.
The two sometimes sound like they’re surprised reporters are even asking about same-sex marriage.
They shouldn’t be.
It was clear when lawmakers started the clock on the process of amending Indiana’s constitution societal views on gay rights were changing rapidly. After all, that was part of their justification. They saw protecting the institution of marriage in its traditional form as an urgent matter because they felt it was under assault.
Something seems to have changed their attitudes. Perhaps it was the November 2012 election. Maybe it was major businesses such as Cummins Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. warning that passing the amendment would harm their efforts to lure top talent into the state.
But Republican legislative leaders now are clearly finding themselves in an uncomfortable position on the issue — and they’re not happy about it.
They’re likely to announce this week they will postpone any further action on the issue until 2014. They will point to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that’s expected to come this summer as their primary reason.
It would serve legislative leaders well to remember, though, they — not the media and not special interest groups — started this debate. That remains true even if they are losing interest in finishing it.