Media Coverage of Indiana Ballot Issue Ever-Changing
For the past few months, gay folks in Indiana have been on the edge of their seats. The news media across the state have been reporting one week that an anti-gay constitutional amendment has so much support it has a chance of getting on the November 2008 ballot, and then the next week reporting that it’s highly unlikely the amendment will be up for a vote.
SJR-7, the proposed anti-gay legislation, would ban marriage for gay and lesbian couples and was originally introduced in 2005. When SJR-7 was up for a Senate vote last month, prominent bloggers called the marriage ban dead-on-arrival, and members of the House were quoted in mainstream press as saying that marriage for gay couples was not a relevant issue this year.
SJR-7 was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate this January, but the House needs to approve the anti-marriage ban before it comes up for a popular vote. House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Scott Peleath (D) decided not to hear the Senate version of the proposal. Gay and mainstream news articles have picked up Peleath’s comments for weeks, and stories that assured folks the anti-gay legislation is unlikely to move forward have been published since the beginning of the year.
However, yesterday the Associated Press released a story about a petition the majority of House members have signed in support of the anti-gay amendment. With support like this, it is still possible that the marriage ban could be on the November 2008 ballot. Anti-gay ballot initiatives have been used in the past, most notably in the last presidential election year, as a wedge issue. In Indiana, a red state, this is especially important in 2008. If the bill does not pass this year, anti-gay activists will have to start the process over and the earliest it would be on the ballot would be 2012, another presidential election year.
Be sure to check back here at GLAAD’s Newsroom ’08 for the latest on media coverage of the status of Indiana’s ever-changing proposed marriage ban and other ballot issues around the country.
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
SJR-7, the proposed anti-gay legislation, would ban marriage for gay and lesbian couples and was originally introduced in 2005. When SJR-7 was up for a Senate vote last month, prominent bloggers called the marriage ban dead-on-arrival, and members of the House were quoted in mainstream press as saying that marriage for gay couples was not a relevant issue this year.
SJR-7 was approved by the Republican-controlled Senate this January, but the House needs to approve the anti-marriage ban before it comes up for a popular vote. House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Scott Peleath (D) decided not to hear the Senate version of the proposal. Gay and mainstream news articles have picked up Peleath’s comments for weeks, and stories that assured folks the anti-gay legislation is unlikely to move forward have been published since the beginning of the year.
However, yesterday the Associated Press released a story about a petition the majority of House members have signed in support of the anti-gay amendment. With support like this, it is still possible that the marriage ban could be on the November 2008 ballot. Anti-gay ballot initiatives have been used in the past, most notably in the last presidential election year, as a wedge issue. In Indiana, a red state, this is especially important in 2008. If the bill does not pass this year, anti-gay activists will have to start the process over and the earliest it would be on the ballot would be 2012, another presidential election year.
Be sure to check back here at GLAAD’s Newsroom ’08 for the latest on media coverage of the status of Indiana’s ever-changing proposed marriage ban and other ballot issues around the country.
Paul Karr is the Director of Media Field Strategy
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