Date: Sat, 26 Apr 1997 14:37:49 -0400 (EDT) From: LGBTFAIR@aol.com Subject: CALL GOV. O'BANNON: HB 1265 Passes Indiana House & Senate URGENT ACTION: 1. Please call or e-mail Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon. Ask him to veto HB 1265, Voiding Same-Gender Marriages. Ask that he postpone any decision to sign the bill until he meets with those who will be directly affected -- especially those whose marriages will suddenly cease to exist if he signs HB 1265. You do not have to be from Indiana to do this. If you call, ask to speak to the governor directly. If you are told that is not possible, ask to speak to an aide who will advise the governor on legislative issues. If you can come to Indianapolis, ask to meet with the governor personally. If told that is not possible, ask to meet with a member of his staff. Indianapolis: 317-232-4567 (The governor does not have a toll-free number.) E-Mail: FOBannon@state.IN.US ** Let him know that the bill is embarrassingly poorly written and that the embarrassment will fall on him if he signs it into law. Tell him that, because HB 1265 deals with same-gender, not same-sex marriage, it will void some straight people's marriages -- even some of many years legal duration in Indiana -- and will let some same-sex marriages remain legal if and when same-sex civil marriage is a possibility elsewhere. ** Ask him to consider which image is more reflective of his life's work: Signing devisive hate legislation while Eric Miller beams victoriously behind him or vetoing a bill to safeguard his constituents' marriages. ** Remind him that the bill, which says an emergency exists, is a lie -- that nowhere in the world can same-sex couples marry now nor will they likely be able to before the next session of the Indiana legislature is over. ** Ask him to consider the consequences of a voided marriage -- voided not on the condition of the couple at the time of marriage but on the condition at some arbitrary time long after that: sudden illegitimacy of children (including disruption of custody and visitation rights and the child's rights to support and inheritance); no rights to divorce (including property division based on years of marriage, spousal or child support, access to a spouse's pension, transfer of health insurance without pre-existing condition waiting periods, etc.); inheritance, insurance, and pension disruption; requirements to repay social security benefits or adjust taxes paid based on a marriage suddenly deemed never to have existed; suddenly having no right to act on behalf of an incapacitated spouse or even visit that spouse in a hospital, nursing home or jail; or disruption of any of hundreds of other rights, benefits, and responsibilities of civil marriage -- all because one of the spouses does not fit a cultural stereotype of how a man or woman dresses or behaves. 2. Ask others who support equal marriage rights (as well as those who do not want to see non-gay people's marriages threatened by a badly crafted bill) to call Gov. O'Bannon, too. 3. Call or e-mail LGBT Fairness Indiana if you are interested in participating in other actions against HB 1265 or to get copies of the Indiana Freedom To Marry Resolution to sign or distribute. Indianapolis: 317-582-2910 (or page Marla Stevens at 800-946-4646 PIN 110-3822) E-Mail: LGBTFAIR@aol.com 4. Write letters thanking those who voted against HB 1265 or otherwise worked to defeat the bill. Sen./Rep. ________________ Indiana Statehouse Indianapolis IN 46204 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- HB 1265 -- GREASED LIGHTNING IN THE INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- After being thwarted in five attempts to pass anti-same-sex or anti-same-gender marriage legislation in this session of the Indiana General Assembly and having all other bills that their marriage language could be amended into closed to them, religious political extremist Eric Miller of the Citizens Concerned for the Constitution and his front men, Rep. Woody Burton (R-Greenwood) and Sen. Johnny Nugent (R-Lawrenceburg) sacrificed an inconsequential driver's licence bill so their marriage language could pass. A dissent to HB 1265 was filed quietly by Burton and Nugent, co-author and sponsor (respectively) of the bill, on April 23rd. A conference committee met on it late on April 24th but, as the chairman, Rep. Paul Robertson (D-DePauw) was not present, Burton merely informed the other members present, Sen. Nugent and Sen. Allie Craycraft (D-Selma), that the drivers license language would be stripped from the bill and replaced with the language from SB 211, Voiding Same-Gender Marriages. The committee was then placed in recess. When asked when the committee would reconvene to vote to accept the change, Rep. William "Bill" J. Ruppel, the House Republican alternate, quipped that they'd reconvene in the men's room. (All the opponents to the bill who were present were female.) The conference committee report was signed and filed in the evening of April 24th as news that Miller's followers had submitted letters to the editor of a newspaper in Rep. Gary Cook's (D-Plymouth) district claiming that he and Rep. Michael Dvorak (D-Granger), who'd blocked the Burton-Nugent marriage language from SB 490, were lovers. (Cook and Dvorak, like many legislators trying to make ends meet on small daily stipends, are roommates while the legislature is in session.) This news was accompanied by threats that other Democrats who opposed the Burton-Nugent marriage bill would suffer the same or similar attacks. (It has also been rumored that Speaker of the House John Gregg was issued threats that any perceived acquiescence to his party's leadership's opposition to the legislation would be met with accusations that he acted on behalf of his gay brother.) The African-American caucus, outraged at Miller's tactics (which had included putting an earlier version in their pet welfare reform legislation) and seeing the fear in their colleagues at the threats and the inevitability of HB 1265's rapid passage as a result, called an emergency dinner meeting where they agreed that none would vote for HB 1265 in protest, no matter what their individual or district feelings about same-sex marriage were. On April 25th, the bill moved without opposition through Senate Rules Committee where the rules on reasonable length of time for public comment on the Senate Calendar were waived and the bill was placed on the Senate calendar by 10:30 a.m. (Public comment was not allowed in either Senate or House Rules Committee meetings on HB 1265.) The bill passed the Senate before noon with noone speaking in opposition with a vote of 38-10. Senators voting against the bill (all Democrats) were: Sen. Anita O. Bowser (D-Michigan City) Sen. Billie J. Breaux (D-Indianapolis)* Sen. Michael E. Gery (D-West Lafayette) Sen. Robert F. Hellman (D-Terre Haute) (Senate Minority Leader) Sen. Glenn L. Howard (D-Indianapolis)* Sen. William D. McCarty (D-Anderson) Sen. Joseph F. O'Day (D-Evansville) Sen. Earline S. Rogers (D-Gary)* Sen. Vi Simpson (D-Bloomington) Sen. Cleophus Washington (D-South Bend)* Not Voting were Sen. Lawrence M. Borst (R-Indianapolis) and Sen. Lonnie M. Randolph (D-East Chicago). Both were off the floor at the time of the vote, Sen. Borst negotiating property tax measures and Sen. Randolph taking a group of visiting dignitaries to an awards ceremony in the House. Sen. Randolph, who had voted against the Burton-Nugent language in SB 211 earlier in the session, would have voted against HB 1265. Sen. Borst, who had voted for SB 211, would have supported HB 1265. Sen. Gregory "Greg" D. Server (R-Evansville) voted no but changed his vote to yes before the voting machine was closed. Immediately following the Senate vote, the House Rules Committee met. All were present except Rep. Mark Kruzan (D-Bloomington), who was detained on House leadership business. Rep. John Keeler (R-Indianapolis), the only Republican to raise any concern about any of the anti-same-sex/same-gender marriage bills in public this session, protested that the bill's focus on same-gender, not same-sex marriage, would endanger some straight people's previously lawful marriages with great negative social consequence. He finally ended his protest after getting a not-so-subtle message from fellow Republicans that his opposition put him at odds with the Republican caucus position. Committee Chairperson Rep. Thomas Alevizos (D-Michigan City), who earlier in the day had said emphatically that he dared not refuse to hold a hearing on the bill -- that "it was greased and there was nothing [we] could do to stop it, no matter how bad a bill it is" -- called for and got a consent vote to waive the rules for calendar wait time without objection. This was despite the fact that the language was ineligible for House consideration, as it had been introduced in bills but had not passed any regular House committee nor had this rule been waived. Immediately after the lunch break, the bill was brought to the House floor, where it passed with a final vote of 85-9 (with 5 not voting and 1 excused). Rep. Vernon G. Smith (D-Gary), who had refused to schedule bills with HB 1265's language for hearing in the committee he chairs, made an impassioned speech against the bill's passage, calling those who would vote for it "hypocrites who hide behind religious issues and walk around looking pious" and descrying the legislation as divisive, saying, "If we don't wake up, we're going to self-destruct because of hate. I pray to God that He have mercy on all of us." His remarks caused much consternation in Republican ranks and even Burton managed to look confused. Several Republican legislators walked off the floor in protest. (Rep. Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis), Republican Floor Leader, later said it was the most offensive speech he'd ever heard in the House.) All returned as Burton closed, saying little more than the bill was "bi-partisan". Those voting NO were: Rep. Dennis T. Avery (D-Evansville) Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary)(Black Legislative Caucus Chairperson)* Rep. William A. Crawford (D-Indianapolis)* Rep. Earl L. Harris (D-East Chicago)* Rep. Mark Kruzan (D-Bloomington) (Majority Floor Leader) Rep. Roland Webber (D-Indianapolis) Those NOT VOTING who later changed their votes to NO were: Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) Rep. Vernon G. Smith (D-Gary) (Assistant Majority Floor Leader) Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis) Those NOT VOTING who did not later record a vote were (these non-votes were in opposition to HB 1265 and anti-gay hate): Rep. William C. Cochran (D-New Albany) Rep. John J. Day (D-Indianapolis) Rep. Mae Dickinson (D-Indianapolis) Rep. Brian Hasler (D-Evansville) Rep. Sheila Johnston Klinker (D-Lafayette) Those NOT VOTING who later changed their votes to YES were (these votes should be considered as YES votes from district pressure but made in protest to Miller's tactics and anti-gay hate mongering): Rep. R. Tiny Adams (D-Muncie) Rep. Thomas J. Alevizos (D-Michigan City) Rep. William W. Bailey (D-Seymour) Rep. Ronald D. Liggett (D-Redkey) Rep. Edmund Mahern (D-Indianapolis) Rep. Vern Tincher (D-Terre Haute), who had previously expressed both distaste for the Burton-Nugent language but concern about his district, was excused from voting due to hospitalization from a heart attack. The bill was immediately signed and sent to Gov. Frank O'Bannon for his signature. According to the governor's legislative liaison, Bob Kovacs, O'Bannon's legal staff will review the bill in light of the legal concerns we've raised about the same-gender terminology and the unusual method of voiding in the bill before making any recommendations to the governor as to whether he should sign or veto it. The governor's press secretary confirmed that in the _Indianapolis Star_ (Saturday, April 26) saying also that the governor does not yet know if he will sign it or not. ---------------------------- TEXT OF HB 1265 ---------------------------- A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning family law. SECTION 1. IC 31-11-1-1, AS ADDED BY SEA 8-1997, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE UPON PASSAGE]: Sec. 1. (a) Only a female may marry a male Only a male may marry a female. [new language] b. A marriage between person of the same gender is void in Indiana even if the marriage is lawful in the place where it is solemnized. SECTION 2. An emergency is declared for this act.