Joint Resolution 0007 The AntiGay Marriage Amendment passed 76 to 23. If the legislature passes it again in 2007, and the people of Indiana ratify it, my marriage will finally be safe! A big thank you to the General Assembly for doing this important work and preventing all them homersexshuls from destroying my marriage.

Joint Resolution 0007 The anti-Gay Marriage Constitutional Amendment passed the Senate 42 to 8. I think it’s an inappropriate mucking about with the Constitution, but if they have to pass it, the Senate made a somewhat sensible amendment. They changed:

Neither this Constitution nor any other Indiana law may be construed to confer marital status or any legal incidents of marriage upon unmarried couples or groups.

to

This Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

So, instead of prohibiting the grant of legal incidents of marriage to same-sex couples, it simply prohibits construing statutes to require such a grant. An interesting question would be whether a law specifically granting an incident of marriage to a same-sex couple would be enforceable. For example, a statute saying, “Hospitals shall allow same-sex partners the same visitation rights as married couples enjoy.” Hospital disobeys the law. Then defends, saying that, per the Indiana Constitution, the statute can’t be construed to require them to to confer a legal incident of marriage on unmarried couples. Seems like we might be opening a can of worms with that “legal incidents of marriage” language.