Tonight, the heartland grows a little more heart. Here in Bloomington, Indiana – where I live and work – our mayor, Mark Kruzan, will conduct a wedding ceremony for more than a dozen same-sex couples at the 10th anniversary of the PRIDE LGBTQ Film Festival. Two of these couples are pictured here. (Express your support/thanks by sending an email to Mayor Mark Kruzan at: mayor (at) bloomington.in.gov)
The event’s press release describes tonight’s marriage ceremony (which is not legally binding as same-sex couples still cannot legally get married in Indiana!) as being “in protest against the proposed constitutional amendment HJR-6 (ban of same sex marriage)”. The proposal for the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage has already passed Indiana’s House and Senate (back in 2011) but it has to go up again – and likely will soon – before going before Indiana voters. [You may remember, too, that Indiana is the state in which a political candidate this past election talked about God-intended rape pregnancies... and then thankfully lost.]
Of course, with same-sex marriage cases now before the Supreme Court, we’ll see how things play out. But we can’t just sit and wait… we need help from everyone inside of Indiana and we also need the help, support, and efforts of compassionate, progressive voices outside of Indiana. For starters, you can express your support for marriage equality by contacting Indiana legislators.
I first heard about tonight’s marriage ceremony a couple of months ago from a friend who will be one of the women getting married. She and her fiancee are marrying privately soon after (they’re having a destination wedding outside of Indiana) but tonight’s Bloomington wedding will be an opportunity for them to celebrate locally with friends.
