POLITICS

Indiana GOP convention to weigh support of traditional marriage

Chelsea Schneider
Chelsea.Schneider@indystar.com

A year after same-sex marriage became legal across the nation, Indiana Republicans appear poised to maintain support for marriage “between a man and a woman” in the state party’s platform.

Delegates to the Indiana Republican Convention on Saturday in Indianapolis will vote on the platform, along with choosing a nominee for state attorney general and schools chief.

Ahead of the gathering, a committee tasked with exploring changes to the platform voted not to revise language favoring traditional marriage that party members added in 2014. It states, “We believe that strong families, based on marriage between a man and a woman, are the foundation of society.”

Opponents of the language still have opportunities to alter it. A second committee, whose membership includes influential party members, will meet Friday when changes — although unexpected — could occur before nearly 1,700 delegates vote on the platform Saturday.

Republicans hoping to change the language will face strong headwinds, including from party members who feel any changes to the marriage language could reignite debate over a controversial social policy that’s become a sore point for Republican Gov. Mike Pence and other GOP leaders.

Advocates of maintaining the provision say it constitutes a compromise struck two years ago, when language also was included to support “diverse” family structures. But those who want the “between a man and a woman” definition removed, such as former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and new Marion County GOP Chairman Mike McQuillen, argue it’s time for a more inclusive party.

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Megan Robertson, a leader in the effort to remove the language, said Republicans have an opportunity to show the party is welcoming and diverse.

“Instead of recognizing it as an opportunity, it was seen as ‘We don’t want to talk about this issue. We don’t want to bring it up, so let’s not change anything on it,' ” said Robertson, a rights activist for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and a member of Enterprise Republicans, a group chaired by former Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle. Oesterle, a critic of Pence, left the tech firm last year to promote gay and transgender rights after the passage of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Serving as a backdrop to the debate is the city’s annual Circle City IN Pride Festival that’s occurring the same day as the state Republican convention. The festival, which supports the LGBT community, is expected to draw more than 100,000 people to Downtown.

Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell said the language received overwhelming support at the 2014 state convention.

“It passed with better than 80 percent of people that participated the last time around. So nothing has changed at all. I think it will be fine,” Cardwell said.

Rush County GOP Chairman Michael Dora, who wrote the marriage language in 2014, said the platform-review committee felt “changing it drew attention to it.”

“And made it more contentious than some people think it is,” Dora said. “That’s what the base of the party believes, that the foundation of this country was built with that belief. And if we don’t stand for strong family units, then we’re just going to continue to go down a path of more broken families.”

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The language on marriage represented a “pretty good compromise,” said Mike McDaniel, a former state Republican Party chairman who reviewed the platform.

"At the end of the day, it was decided to keep it the way it was because it did cover a lot of ground for a lot of people,” he said. “Nobody was completely happy on either side of the issue.”

But McQuillen, who testified in April at one of the platform committee’s public hearings, said the provision was at odds with the party’s goal of getting more young people involved.

"What are we to say to the children of gay and lesbian parents, who don’t fit this definition of a strong family?" McQuillen said, according to transcript of his remarks to the committee. "What are we to say to courageous single mothers and fathers, who don’t fit this definition of a strong family?"

Tom John, GOP chairman of Indiana’s 7th Congressional District, said he wants to see the language of “between a man and a woman” removed long term, but he argued this year isn’t the right time. He said Republicans need to focus on “party unity” and getting Pence re-elected as governor and Congressman Todd Young elected to the U.S. Senate.

“And save some of the more divisive fights for another day,” John said.

Robertson disagreed. “With all the controversy surrounding these issues in the last few years, it is exactly the right and appropriate time to make it clear that the Republican Party is welcoming to strong families, however they are constructed.”

The party had eliminated similar traditional marriage language in 2012, but social conservatives pushed in 2014 to have it restored after failing to get a constitutional same-sex marriage ban on the November ballot. Shortly after, a federal court ruling made same-sex marriage legal in Indiana, and last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court extended that right to marry across the nation.

It would be difficult to imagine Republicans abandoning the language because of a court ruling, said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics.

“It’s not a call for any particular legislation or a constitutional amendment. It is a statement of belief,” Downs said. “It is a value statement, and that minimizes to a degree the controversial nature.”

In addition to the platform, delegates will choose Saturday among four attorney general candidates and two superintendent of public instruction candidates to run in the November election. They’re also expected to formally nominate Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb as Pence’s running mate.

IndyStar reporters Tony Cook and Brian Eason contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea. 

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