In a nearly 30-minute speech, Governor Mike Pence discussed a wide range of issues in Tuesday night’s State of the State address – including taxes, health care, and education. But already it’s his brief remarks on a pending same sex marriage ban that are already capturing many of the headlines.
Pence reaffirmed his support Tuesday for the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, known as HJR3.
“I believe in traditional marriage, and I have long held the view that the people, rather than un-elected judges, should decide matters of such great consequence,” said Pence, who also called for a civil debate on the controversial issue.
“Reasonable people can differ, and there are good people on both sides of this debate,” Pence said. “No one, on either side, deserves to be disparaged or maligned because of who they are or what they believe. So let’s have a debate worthy of our people with civility and respect. Let’s protect the rights of Hoosier employers to hire who they want and provide them with benefits that they earn. And let’s resolve this issue this year once and for all.”
“I thought his comments were appropriate, and I thought he was pretty clear on where he stood,” said House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis.
“His speech was 85 or 90 percent dealing with other issues,” said Senate minority leader Tim Lanane, D-Anderson. “I find this to be a common theme from members of the Republican party. They want to run from this resolution which they have written.”
Democrats also criticized the governor’s speech for being short on specifics.
“Mike Pence believes a governor should do very little, and he’s succeeding,” said House minority leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City.
“It was in broad brush strokes, obviously, but that’s what State of the State speeches do,” said Senate majority leader David Long, R-Fort Wayne. “I though he painted a picture of where he wanted to see the state go in a positive way.”
Pence spent much of his speech focusing on agenda items he’s been pushing in recent weeks, including a phase out of the state’s business personal property tax, a tax on business machinery that Pence and some Republicans want to eventually eliminate.
“Taxing equipment and technology in a state that leads the nation in making and creating things just doesn’t make sense,” said the governor.
On education, Pence spoke against the federal Common Core standards.
“When it comes to setting standards for schools, I can assure you, Indiana’s will be uncommonly high,” said the governor.
Pence also thanked the sparring State Board of Education and Superintendent Glenda Ritz, who got a loud ovation in the chamber.
The governor also took time to thank those who helped rescue Hoosiers from last week’s winter storm, including members of the Indiana National Guard.
“It could have been a lot worse were it not for the efforts of our first responders,” said Pence, who also thanked those who helped clean up from the recent tornado outbreak in Kokomo and Lafayette.
“From all that I’ve seen, I can say with conviction that the state of our state is strong and growing stronger every day,” Pence said.
'''Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in the United States''' 








----
1May include recent laws or court decisions which have created legal recognition of same-sex relationships, but which have not entered into effect yet. 
2Same-sex marriage laws in California are complicated, please see the ''Wikipedia'' article on .




Indiana's  passed a proposed constitutional amendment Monday that would ban same-sex marriage in the state's . Indiana's  already prohibits same-sex marriage. A sentence banning  was removed from the proposal. 

For a constitutional amendment to be approved in Indiana, it must pass both the  and the Senate during two separately elected legislatures, which means there has to be an election between the two sets of votes. The proposed amendment cannot be changed from one voting session to another and cannot be changed from the House of Representatives to the Senate. Once the proposed amendment has passed those hurdles, then the amendment goes to Indiana voters who vote yea or nay on the amendment.

Following the House of Representatives' approval, the Senate passed the proposed amendment, which is known as House Joint Resolution 3, with a vote of 32–17 Monday. Opponents needed eight more votes to stop the proposed amendment from reaching the necessary margin of support.

The proposed amendment already passed both houses in 2011. A change was made this legislative session when the second sentence was deleted first by the House of Representatives and then was passed in a similar form by the Senate Monday. The failure of the second sentence, which proposes to ban same-sex civil unions, could possibly open the door for civil unions in the future. Following the process,  will be reviewed again by the next elected legislature in either 2015 or 2016 to remain in process. 

Although the amended version grants the possibility for civil unions in the future, some in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community say it isn't enough. 

"I think it's still bad because it fails to legitimize us as human beings, since it's trying to deny us basic rights,” said Myranda Wanden, program director at , an organization that provides support and advocacy for LBGT teens and young adults. 

Indiana   supported the proposed amendment. Pence, in his "State of the State" speech for 2014, said, “I believe in traditional marriage, and I have long held the view that the people, rather than unelected judges, should decide matters of such great consequence". Pence also called for a civil debate for the matter and to treat everyone with respect. 

“I think the rest of the country is moving towards being more open and accepting about gay marriage," Wanden said. "I think Indiana, which is a conservative red state, saw this and wanted to resist the changing tide. I think it caused fear in many legislators, but I definitely don't think it's reflective of a majority of the Indiana population.”

Indiana is not the only state that prohibits same-sex marriage by law or as proposed by constitution. There are 29 other states that prohibit same-sex civil marriages under their constitutions, while Indiana and three other states prohibit it by statute. The states that allow for some form of same-sex marriage number 17 plus Washington, DC.

Worldwide, there is a wide diversity in same-sex marriage and rights laws. At this time, 17 countries allow same-sex marriage, the most recent being Scotland. Most of the countries that allow same-sex marriage are concentrated in Europe, but there are also countries in South America and Africa, as well as New Zealand, Canada, and parts of Mexico that have legalized same-sex marriage. 
Homosexual sex is legally criminal in at least 78 countries, and punishable by death in five.