Further notice: Southern Indiana Equality's next meeting is January 28 at the Roadhouse.

Here's a reminder that Southern Indiana Equality's next meeting is January 28 at the Roadhouse. That's Thursday.

Southern Indiana Equality will be holding their 1st quarter meeting at 7:00 pm on January 28th. It will be held in the upstairs room at The New Albany Roadhouse.

New Albany Roadhouse
1706 Graybrook Lane
New Albany, Indiana 47150

We are proud to welcome representatives from Freedom Indiana as well as Indiana Competes to discuss the new legislative session. This will be a full community meeting where questions can be answered and the future of Indiana equality will be discussed.

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Southern Indiana Equality is a good place to monitor Indiana's legislative foibles -- and there are many. Relevant links:

Southern Indiana Equality
Freedom Indiana
Indiana Competes

Southern Indiana Equality's next meeting is January 28 at the Roadhouse.

While thinking about posting the mailing received today from Freedom Indiana, Brad Bell served notice of the next meeting of Southern Indiana Equality:

Southern Indiana Equality will be holding their 1st quarter meeting at 7:00 pm on January 28th. It will be held in the upstairs room at The New Albany Roadhouse.

New Albany Roadhouse
1706 Graybrook Lane
New Albany, Indiana 47150

We are proud to welcome representatives from Freedom Indiana as well as Indiana Competes to discuss the new legislative session. This will be a full community meeting where questions can be answered and the future of Indiana equality will be discussed.

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Southern Indiana Equality is a good place to monitor Indiana's legislative foibles -- and there are many. Relevant links:

Southern Indiana Equality
Freedom Indiana
Indiana Competes

"How We Will Defeat HJR-3 in the Indiana Senate."

Verbatim from Freedom Indiana. Does Silent Ron have heartburn yet? It's okay. He's a pharmacist.

My guess is that Silent Ron will NOT appreciate the rally in New Albany planned for Wednesday, February 5:

Join us at our Community Meeting in New Albany this Wednesday. This is the final push to stop HJR-3 in the General Assembly.

After Grooms votes in favor of this abomination, let's just hope that Chuck Freiberger is paying attention.

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It's been a pretty intense couple of weeks in our campaign to stop the anti-freedom HJR-3.

So much has happened. And together, we've made A TON of progress in defending liberty for all Hoosiers.

But as HJR-3 moves to the Senate, we have our work cut out for us if we're going to defeat this amendment once and for all.

Check out our new graphic to see our latest progress and what lies ahead as we work to stop HJR-3:

There's no doubt about it: amending HJR-3 to remove the second sentence was a historic step -- one that many thought we could never accomplish.

Still, HJR-3 is alive, and in the coming days, our opponents in the Senate will try as hard as they can to reinsert the hostile second sentence that would permanently ban all protections for same-sex couples ...

 ... Share our latest graphic on Facebook and Twitter to explain what's next in our campaign and ask your friends to join the movement to stop HJR-3.

http://FreedomIN.org/infographic/

The only reason we are closer to keeping this amendment off the ballot in November is because Hoosiers like you have spoken out, shared your stories and made an unbelievable impact.

Onward to the Senate,

Megan Robertson
Campaign Manager, Freedom Indiana

Mayor Jeff Gahan is on the list of mayors opposed to HJR-3.

Previously, I noted the absence of certain names on an important list.

Human rights on the down-low: If not for New Albany's city council opposition to the HJRs, we'd already be constructing the gulag.

This morning, I took another look at the Freedom Indiana website, and while Jeffersonville's Mike Moore remains conspicuously (and not unexpectedly) absent, Jeff Gahan's name is right there on the list. That's good. I'm happy to see it, even if I cannot recall the occasion of his utterance.

Who opposes HJR-3?

It's an ever-growing list. This gives New Albany a mayor and council in opposition, and let's not forget Rep. Ed Clere, who stands in stark contrast to his low-wattage compatriot, Rhonda Rhoads, with Ron Grooms still fleeing the question.

Interestingly, just the other day at Facebook, Grooms's opponent signaled an embrace of the argument from semantics. Chuck Freiberger was replying to a question from Bob:

Bob: It's been a long time chuck hope you and family are doing we'll have to ask you your stand on abortion and guy marriage pm me if you want please

Chuck: Bob, I will give you the short answer. As a catholic, I do not believe in abortion as a form of birth control. I do believe there are matters for decisions when it comes to the health for the mom and rape. The doctors and patients need to make that decision. (Marriage) I don't think it is right for me or anyone else to descriminate against others of whom I am different. I believe our state constitution already has marriage defined as being between a man and a woman. I would not vote in favor of the bill being presented in the legistlature now because it goes too far in taking the rights away from others.

Frankly, I couldn't tell whether the questioner was too eaten up with God to use the word "gay", or was simply illiterate. What about the gals, Bob? Can they marry, too?

I suppose this means that Chuck's okay with discrimination as a state law, but not as a constitutional change. Maybe party chairman Adam Dickey can clarify that for us, and then broadcast the clarification over these loud speakers.

Of course, with every passing day, council members Scott Blair and Diane Benedetti look more and more isolated on what probably will be remembered as a keystone issue of our time.

That's a real shame.

Human rights on the down-Iow: If not for New Albany's city council opposition to the HJRs, we'd already be constructing the gulag.

As we await the GOP's inevitable legislative hijinks with regard to HJR-3 (formerly HJR-6), otherwise known as the Hoosier Stain  ...

HJR 3 vote delayed NUVO (NUVO)

Analyst breaks down details of HJR-3 (WANE.com)

 ... let's look back to December 3, and those 12 mayors in Indiana who took a bipartisan approach in speaking out against the brown shirts.

Indiana Mayors Stand with Freedom Indiana, Speak Out against HJR-6

Today, Mayors from across the state of Indiana stood with Freedom Indiana and spoke out against HJR-6, the proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution that would permanently define marriage and would remove existing protections under law for same-sex and unmarried couples and families.

Let's see. I don't see the mayors of New Albany and Jeffersonville on that list. But I probably just missed them. Maybe they used invisible ink.

The Indiana Democratic Party seems solidly and publicly against HJR-3. That's fitting and proper. Meanwhile, glancing at the Floyd County Democratic Party's web site and Facebook page, I find several references (on FB only) to HJR-3, including a link to a Democratic legislator's sound viewpoint, but no actual statement opposing the Hoosier Stain's spread.

But hey -- I probably just missed it.

Of course, here in Floyd County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, and Republican presidential candidates win the vote in landslides, there's a good deal of getting down with the down-low. Apparently the Dixiecrat contingent is easily offended ... eh, Adam?

Elsewhere in Southern Indiana, we've seen moral cowardice rise to the top as Jeff CM, Tech educator, River Ridge flunky and One Southern Indiana chief all ducked and covered on HJR-6, HJR-3 immediate predecessor.

However, in November, the New Albany city council stood tall: A "principled" Blair votes no, but council approves resolution condemning HJR-6.

Afterward, I wrote CM Blair, asking him to explain his non-vote.

I'm still waiting for the reply. That's how we do it, down here, on the down-low, where the headlights of speed-crazed oncoming one-way arterial traffic aren't the only phenomenon freezing politicians dead in their tracks.

A Veterans Day message from Freedom Indiana.

(via e-mail, something to induce heartburn in Mike Pence)

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Roger,

I am very proud to have served my country and our great state by serving in the Air National Guard. However, I'm also quick to point out that compared to others - others whose service brought them to war and harm's way - mine was largely without sacrifice.

My service instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for others and a sense of solidarity, and I have a lasting commitment to my oath to defend the Constitution.

Today, on Veterans Day, I am proud to stand with Veterans for Freedom in opposition to HJR-6.

Read our stories here

The military is part of my journey, and since my service that journey has included meeting my long-time partner, 12 years ago, and welcoming into the world grandchildren from my first marriage. Shortly after the all-time high of becoming a grandparent, this journey included the radical low of being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer and beginning treatment.

But, even in this, I am lucky. Though it is not required by law, my partner's employer exemplifies Hoosier hospitality by offering all family members health care benefits. Right now, their generosity is truly saving my life.

If HJR-6 were passed, the treatment I am receiving could be considered unconstitutional.

Limiting freedom in this way does not equate to my loving life in Indiana and it grates against the oath to defend our Constitution that I took as a member of the US Military.

This Veterans Day, take a moment to think about the freedom and liberty that we hold dear as Hoosiers and Americans - and everyone who has sacrificed to make them a reality.

HJR-6 flies in the face of these values, and that's why I'm proud to stand with fellow veterans - gay and straight - in opposing this harmful amendment.

Read our stories here, and please share them with your friends and family

Together, we can defeat HJR-6 and protect liberty for all Hoosiers.

Thank you and happy Veterans Day,

Lori Perdue
Veterans for Freedom

Attention, sniveling bigots: Indiana University publicly rejects HJR-6 as Mike Pence squirms some more.

From Megan Robertson, as deposited to my inbox. Perhaps never has it been so thoroughly amusing to money-first GOP functionaries in the Hoosier state being forced to confront their self-defining social prejudices. It makes me laugh out loud. Really.

Big news! Today, Indiana University became the latest member of Freedom Indiana, our growing, statewide coalition to defeat HJR-6.

In the announcement, IU President Michael A. McRobbie said:

"As a major employer in the state, IU competes with universities and companies around the world for the very best talent, and HJR6 would needlessly complicate our efforts to attract employees to our campuses around the state."

Indiana University's support sends a strong message that we want our state to be an inviting place to study, work and live, and it's the latest example of the incredible momentum we're building to defeat HJR-6.

We're incredibly excited to add Indiana University to our growing list of coalition partners.

What is One Southern Indiana's position v.v. Freedom Indiana? Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.

Maureen Hayden's column last week was quite good: Coalition growing against state constitutional gay-marriage ban.

The coalition, called Freedom Indiana, is rapidly expanding its presence out of the state’s capitol city and into communities around Indiana by building the kind of grassroots campaign that can knock traditional political power off its pedestal. [Think of the grassroots campaign of political novice Glenda Ritz who with little money or name recognition took down her well-funded, incumbent opponent in last year’s race for Superintendent of Public Instruction].

There is a passage of particular interest to those of us who monitor One Southern Indiana's perenially slavish devotion to wrongheadedness.

Here’s where the rubber may hit the road: Indiana’s biggest job creators, including Cummins and Eli Lilly and Co., are behind Freedom Indiana. For them, HJR-6 is a stinging rebuke to the 'Hoosier hospitality' that politicians say has helped Indiana recruit jobs and economic investment for our state.

That's why I posed the question to 1Si: "What is One Southern Indiana's position v.v. Freedom Indiana?" As we endure the vigil of days/weeks/months until 1Si (for once) learns that social media is a two-way street (as most other streets should be), it's vital to recall that when the oligarch fluffers claim to be representing us, they actually are not:

One Southern Indiana does not speak for me or this local business. Repeat.

The non-elected oligarch's benevolent society otherwise known as One Southern Indiana does not speak for local business in the broader sense, and it does not speak for NABC in any sense at all -- whether on the topic of managed health care, or tax reform, or the unconscionable boondoggle of the Ohio River Bridges Project.