Same-sex marriage: One in the win column for Rep. Clere, who refrains from supporting the “language of hate.”

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The most poignant passage in Lesley Stedman Weidenbener’s Courier-Journal coverage of the Indiana House as proud inheritors of the Torquemada tradition in Indiana politics comes with this Valentine Day’s poem written by Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan (D-Indianapolis):

“Just press the red button; the color of no. It will stop all the nonsense and not strike a blow, a blow that hurts thousands across this great state and taints our constitution with the language of hate.”

Not unexpectedly, our own Rep. Clere’s comments leave ample wiggle room for placating the many theocratic fascists among his constituents, but at least he got the pesky Constitutional part right by voting no on HJR-6.

Indiana House approves constitutional ban on same-sex marriage (Weidenbener in the C-J)

INDIANAPOLIS — The House approved a proposal 70-26 Tuesday that would make Indiana the 31st state to ban same-sex marriage in its constitution. Indiana law already defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but advocates of a constitutional amendment say it’s needed to protect traditional marriage from activist judges … … If approved by the Senate this year, the proposal can be considered again either in 2013 or 2014. If approved by the General Assembly a second time, the proposal will be placed on the November ballot in 2014 for ratification.

We must look elsewhere for our daily dose of opprobrium, and accordingly, given the special place he occupies in the exurban hearts of both Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK) and One Southern Indiana (1Si), the supposedly Democratic Rep. Steve Stemler plays a wonderful, down-home role in this same-sex rejection production, one reminiscent of Larry Linville’s archetypal Frank Burns on M*A*S*H, or perhaps Dan Coffey.

Hurriedly speed-dialing ROCK’s Ayatollah Wickens for direction, Stemler first beat the pander bear rush to become co-author of HJR-6, but did not cast a vote either way yesterday. Weidenbener explains:

Rep. Steve Stemler, D-Jeffersonville, was excused from House action on Tuesday and did not vote. However, he was listed as a co-author of the bill.

Professional grade fluffing like that belongs in California, not Indiana, but I digress. Kindly permit me to publicly ask a question that surely must have occurred to many readers: Is there any known way to distinguish Steve Stemler from a garden variety GOP stooge, save for his own declaration of affiliation, one regularly contradicted by his political actions?

Crickets chirp, pins drop.

HJR-6’s prime mover, Rep. Turner, is quoted by Weidenbener in the act of pandering to John Q. Public:

“Ultimately, it’s the public that decides whether we want to put this in our state constitution.”

Turner had no comment as to whether he belongs to the Flat Earth Society, and so we’re free to surmise to our creationist hearts’ content. Spanish Inquisition, here we come … make that, “return.”

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