For Hoosiers, Democrats are the party of Freedom and Liberty

By Jackson Blanchard (Indiana)

As a Hoosier, I’ve been raised on the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and for

most of my lifetime, these have been the values on which our legislature considered and passed

legislation. For decades, our legislature was one of the nation’s most bipartisan and because of

this, we reached better outcomes.

Recently, a proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution known as HJR-6 was introduced

that would permanently ban same-sex marriage in Indiana and have unknown consequences

for traditional civil unions between straight couples, domestic partner benefits and local human

rights ordinances. Besides the fact that same-sex marriage is already illegal under Indiana law

and that it’s already a felony for same-sex couples to even apply for a marriage license, if passed,

the proposed amendment would negatively shine a spotlight on our state as a place that doubles

down on extreme, intolerant policy.

Ultimately, policies such as this amendment will hinder Indiana’s economy and make it

significantly harder for companies to attract the best talent — not only in our own backyard

but from around the world. Indiana’s top employers agree with this premise. Leading global

corporations, Cummins and Eli Lilly and Company have both signed on as partners to Freedom

Indiana, the statewide campaign against the amendment.

Indiana’s cities and towns have been hit hard by the Great Recession. Homes have been

foreclosed on, factories closed and Mom and Pop businesses shuttered. This has left Hoosier

families reeling. Because of this, Indiana is in desperate need of high wage jobs that support

livable communities and strong families. The proposed amendment will make it even more

difficult for our state to attract these sustaining jobs.

Our society is more and more accepting of LGBT individuals. Many of us have a friend or two

who is LGBT. Why would a young person with multiple job offers choose to live in a place that

isn’t going to be accepting of their peers? The truth is, they wouldn’t. It is for these reasons that

our state’s Job Creators oppose the amendment. They see the potential the millennial generation

has to innovate and create the world of the future. Hoosier Democrats oppose the amendment

(the Indiana Democratic Party platform in 2012 included that opposition), just as Indiana’s Job

Creators do, because we believe it will unfairly interfere in the private lives of Hoosiers, hinder

our state’s ability to attract high paying jobs and the world’s best talent. Hoosier Democrats will

continue to guard the freedom and liberty that we all hold dear from extremist attacks and to

promote a common sense agenda that will help create high-paying jobs and roll out the welcome

mat for generations to come.