Indiana Brain Drain Gets a Boost

In an effort to run off the entire creative population of Indiana, state Senator Brandt Hershman (R-Evil Bastards) has recently reintroduced legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 7, in the Indiana General Assembly that would create a Indiana Constitutional Amendment to add some key paragraphs which are as follows:

Marriage in Indiana consists only of the union of one man and one woman.

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.

These two paragraphs would not only ban same sex marriage, but would also tangle up a whole host of laws which have nothing to do with marriage but that extend legal rights and considerations to unmarried couples of all persuasions. This amendment would basically assign married couples to a class of citizen above all else, granting them exclusive rights. You know, quality folks like this:

Gary Welsh at Advance Indiana has been blogging about this issue the last couple of weeks and has been keeping his eye on the situation closely. Gary is a moderate to progressive Republican which is a rare combo in these parts but he can be counted on to be principled and advocate on the logical view of any issue. As an openly gay attorney here in Indianapolis, Gary is a lone voice in his party against this amendment and so he has his work cut out for him.

Today he put a post up on Advance Indiana that caught my eye and brought me into the battle with him. It seems our friend Senator Hershman, who has a colorful past of his own (more on that below), has brought in the notorious Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association to help advocate on behalf of the amendment. This has kicked this debate up to the next level so I’d like to reach out to friends in the progressive and liberal blogosphere to help out in combating this atrocious legislation.

If you have any friends, relatives, former co workers or any other personal ties to Indiana through which you could ask them to contact their state Senators to oppose this craptastic fiasco-in-waiting of an amendment please direct them to this website where they can locate their senator and send him email. It’s a simple web form using their ZIP code to find their Senator and Representative.

For a little background on Senator Hershman to give you an idea of what kind of guy we are dealing with, a story that first appeared in the Logansport Pharos-Tribune on November 7, 2000 told the story of Senator Hershman’s first wife, Tracy Johnson Hershman, who the good family values senator forced to get an abortion against her will upon finding out about an unplanned pregnancy in 1997.

Ever the gentleman, a week later this advocate of pro-life policy for thee not me then upheld his own family values by filing for a divorce from his wife. The hypocrisy of this man knows no bounds! You can read more about this story at Advance Indiana and also at Bilerico, another Indiana blogger riled up by the Hershman/Wildmon Bunch.

That Bilerico link is a hoot, you all should check it out. He wants folks to tip him to good gossip like the Hershman story about some of the other sponsors and supporters of the amendment. Cast ye not the first stone kind of stuff if you ask me, whats good for the goose…you get it.

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