A Thought or Two on Love & Same-Sex Marriage
There’s a joke I tell in my comedy routine about same-sex marriage. Once you get married, the sex is always the same! (Rimshot here.)
Now I make it a point not to tell that bit with my lovely wife in the audience, otherwise sex won’t even be a question when we get back to the house because the answer will be “no.” So, as Indiana lawmakers get ready for another constitutional amendment on protecting “traditional” marriage, I just have one question: Why?
No matter how hard I try, I will never fully understand the opposition to same-sex marriage.
I have yet to see what the problem is with two consenting adults creating a life together for themselves, being productive members of society and not encroaching on my property or reaching into my wallet. With that said, I expect a vigorous debate here in Indiana over the next few months and into the 2014 legislative session as to whether an amendment to the Indiana Constitution banning same-sex marriage should be on the ballot.
Now that the U.S Supreme Court has thrown out the Defense of Marriage Act, but appear to have left in place power for states to decide the marriage question, both Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President David Long have said they expect lawmakers to take up the issue and that Hoosiers have a right to speak on the issue. It’s important to note that neither leader has come out, per se, in favor of the amendment. They just say, for now, that Hoosiers should have the right to have a say in the matter, like voters in 30 other states.
I always tell people to be careful what they wish for, because I truly think, for the first time since coming to Indiana in 2004, that if this measure were to come on the ballot in 2014, it would, pardon the expression, go down in flames. And I have a wide variety of data to back up this theory.
First, attitudes toward same-sex marriage have changed fast and furiously over the last 30 years.
According to Gallup, back in 1996 nearly 70 percent of the public opposed same-sex marriage. In the most recent national polling, that number has consistently stayed above 50 percent.
Here in Indiana, there have been three public polls taken in the last few years regarding the marriage equality issue. A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll taken in March 2011 showed 43 percent of the public favoring an amendment banning same-sex marriage, while 47 percent opposed it. Seven percent were undecided.
A poll by political writer Brian Howey and DePauw University had 48 percent of voters supporting the amendment and 45 percent opposing, with 7 percent undecided. And the most recent poll, conducted by the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University, showed only 38 percent of the public supporting the measure and 54 percent opposing it.
And there is no guarantee that Hoosiers who vote Republican will also vote for an amendment banning same-sex marriage. As we saw in 2012, Hoosiers voted for Republican Mitt Romney, Democrat Joe Donnelly, Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Glenda Ritz. So ticket splitting is not out of the ordinary. So the folks who really want to push for an amendment should be careful about what they are asking for. History is not working in their favor.
And besides, isn’t everyone entitled to be as happy as the lovely Mrs. Shabazz? Of course they are.
