Those planning to attend Rally for Marriage Equality this past Wednesday in the Union Building had to alter their plans. The rally was cancelled due to changes in the HJR3 amendment, causing the vote to likely be postponed until 2016.
After being debated in the Indiana legislature for about a decade, House Joint Resolution 3 (HJR3), a proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution may be coming to fruition.
The amendment, should it pass, will constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in the state of Indiana.
The House voted 52-43 to remove the controversial second sentence of the amendment, which states that any same-sex union similar to that of marriage (i.e. civil unions, domestic partnerships, etc.) would be banned as well.
The Senate will review the altered version during their Monday meeting. If the Senate passes the new version, the legislation will not appear on ballots this November because the legislative process will have to start over. The original committees that authored the bill will have to approve it again, according to retired DePauw employee Kelsey Kauffman. The new version will have to wait until 2016, at the earliest, to go on the ballots because it is a proposed amendment to Indiana's constitution, which must pass two consecutive legislative sessions in the same form.
Kauffman, who taught a Winter Term class on the legislation of HJR3 this past January, explains that without the second sentence, the bill will likely pass in both the House and in the Senate.
"If they [the House] pass [HJR3] without the second sentence, then I think that's the way its going to go through the Senate," Kauffman said. "In that case it wont be on the ballot for two more years, if ever. But if they put the second sentence back in and the House approves it, it will go on the ballot this year."
Coordinator of the rally junior Ryan Pranger was in Kauffman's Winter Term class this year. He began to organize the Rally for Marriage Equality after giving a testimony at a legislative meeting at the end of January.
Pranger felt empowered to create more of a social movement in favor of same-sex marriage after Representative Milo Smith, Chair of the Elections and Apportionment Committee, told Pranger during his testimony that he would be proud if Pranger were his son.
"[Rep. Smith] actually said that he would be proud of me if I was his kid," Pranger said. "It was a very humanizing and awesome reaction that I got from him."
The rally itself was aimed at raising awareness about HJR3 and encouraging students to contact their legislative representatives with their opinions on the subject.
"The initial thing we were going to do [during the rally] was tell people about HJR3, the actual amendment, like what is it, what is the wording and what it would mean for Indiana residents," Pranger said. "We kind of wanted to get people more information about it, how they can help, and just also spreading the word."
First-year Amy Brown, who was the social media correspondent for the rally, said that the cancellation of the rally made sense because of the changes made to HJR3.
"It was a decision that we all made together. It was just because of the way that the amendment worked out," Brown said. "It's kind of a positive thing because that means HJR3 is not going to come to vote until 2016, if it passes again."
While Pranger sees the removal of the second sentence as a step forward, he admits that he wishes the rally happened in order to get DePauw students more involved in the issue.
"I was a little frustrated by it. I kind of wanted to make it a whole campaign," Pranger said. "I had a huge vision in my head of registering people at DePauw to vote and getting them knowledgeable about it. I think this could have been a very cool movement to see at DePauw's campus."
The Senate is going to vote on the changed amendment this Monday, February 10, after their regular 1:30 p.m. meeting. Whether the Senate passes the bill as is or chooses to put the second sentence back in will determined if HJR3 will appear on the ballot this November.