Judge rules Indiana’s marriage discrimination law violates Constitutional rights
These couples, when gender and sexual orientation are taken away, are in all respects like the family down the street. The Constitution demands that we treat them as such. With that clear statement, US District Court judge Richard Young struck…
50 Years After the March on Frankfort
This week, Kentucky will mark the 50th Anniversary of the March on Frankfort. Despite growing up next door in Indiana, I knew nothing about this bit of Civil Rights-era history. On March 5, 1964, more than ten thousand people marched…
Indiana Senate declines to re-insert second sentence in HJR-3
Earlier today, reporters noted that Senator Mike Delph (R-Carmel) and Senator Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) planned to introduce amendments to Indiana’s marriage discrimination amendment, HJR-3. They planned to re-insert the controversial second sentence, which read: A legal status identical or substantially…
Senate Committee Hears Marriage Discrimination Amendment
On Monday afternoon, the Indiana Senate’s Rules and Legislative Procedures committee held a hearing for HJR-3. Senator Kruse presented the amendment as passed by the House. By my count, 19 people testified in favor of HJR-3, while 18 testified against…
Hermeneutics & HJR-3
I’m working on a post to recap what was said during yesterday’s Senate Rules Committee hearing on HJR-3, which would enshrine discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers in our state’s constitution. But I wanted to comment on a specific religious idea that…
The marginally-less-discriminatory amendment
Last night, the Indiana House voted 52-43 to amend HJR 3, the proposed anti-LGBT constitutional amendment. That vote strips the second sentence from the amendment, which read: A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried…
Moving forward on Indiana’s constitutional amendment
Last night, the Elections and Apportionment Committee voted to approve HJR 3, the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment, along with its companion “explainer” bill. All 9 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the bills, and asked few — if any…
Bill O’Reilly and the fight to secularize Christianity
Last week, Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly insisted that Christianity was not, in fact, a religion, but rather a philosophy. That prompted this righteously funny, indignant response from Jon Stewart: In his bluntness, I think O’Reilly clumsily pulled back the…
