Indiana gay marriage ban may be blocked
Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 / 04:57 PM
http://www.planetout.com/pno/splash.html

Although an Indiana Senate committee approved a bill to amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, an influential House leader declared the bill not important enough for a hearing.

A Senate committee passed the measure on Tuesday by a 10-1 vote. But Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, who chairs the House Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee, told the Indianapolis Star that the measure takes a back seat to other issues in his chamber.

*With the multitude of issues we have to deal with that deal directly with people's lives, this just isn't a priority at this moment,* he said in comments published Tuesday morning.

The speaker of the House, B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, agreed.

*It's not a major issue that I've heard of,* Bauer told the Star. *If the people in Washington want to create issues, they can do that. We don't need to create issues. We have enough issues as it is.*

Indiana law already prohibits same-sex marriages. In order for a constitutional amendment to succeed, it must be approved by two separate General Assemblies and then passed by voters in a general election.