Hoosiers are preparing to fight over HJR-6, a house joint resolution that would amend Indiana’s constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, and Ball State will be part of the battleground.
Representatives from Indiana Equality Action, a non-profit that fights against discrimination against homosexuality, will be sent to the major campuses in Indiana, including Ball State, Purdue and Indiana universities.
Rick Sutton, president of IEA, said the representatives will focus on getting voters to contact their state representatives and organizing events.
“There will be the typical campaign stuff you would see for a candidate, except this isn’t for a candidate — this is for a cause,” Sutton said.
IEA hasn’t chosen the representatives yet, but is looking specifically for people experienced in campaigning to manage what they expect to be a large support area.
“An overwhelming majority of young people today want to work in an environment that’s open and receptive to all people,” Sutton said. “That’s the message that we need to carry to reject this amendment.”
The proposed amendment will go through the House and the Senate, where it should be resolved by March 14. If passed, it will go to a public vote in 2014.
David Long, the Republican Senate president pro tempore, said he expects it to be passed in both the House and Senate. Republicans Brian Bosma, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Eric Turner, the district 32 representative who authored HJR-6 in 2011, could not be reached for comment.
Vi Simpson, the 2012 Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, said she expects heavy resistance in the House. She said the House has had more Republicans change positions, and expects the Democrats to make their push there.
Simpson said young people lead themselves to believe they don’t have much political power when they are truly a strong base for change.
“The polls show that people my age have a hard time changing position, but young people are not having a hard time at all and that this is an issue that our society will outgrow,” Simpson said.
She said young people need to make sure they’re registered to vote and talk to their officials.
“Young people need to remember that they are leading the parade on changing mores, changing attitudes toward our fellow Hoosiers,” Simpson said. “They have a voice in this. They have a stake in this. They have the political power to make the changes in society they see as important.”
Time is a large factor for Simpson and Sutton.
Simpson said people who want to talk to legislators need to do so before they are too caught up in sessions and Sutton said IEA is trying to quickly recruit people to get to campuses when fall semesters begin.
Sutton said an increasing global mentality is a major reason to fight the resolution.
“I’ve lived in Indiana all my life and I think the message Indiana portrays to the rest of the world is increasingly important,” he said. “We want to make sure that message is a welcoming, inviting and collaborative message. HJR-6 is the antithesis of that.”
Sutton said universities specifically have a reason to keep an eye on HJR-6.
“Educational institutions that want a worldwide presence of any kind can’t be looking at amendments like this,” he said. “It’s not good business for a university to be involved in a state that shuts its borders to certain people.”
