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26 Sep 2007 08:54 pm

The Free Market and Gay Rights, Ctd

A reader writes:

One of the most astonishing (and underreported) instances of this phenomenon is the defeat in committee of the marriage ban in the Indiana legislature. This past April a group of major corporations (Cummins Engine, Wellpoint, Dow AgroSciences, Eli Lilly, and Emmis Communications, etc.) lobbied against the measure and won.

While I'm not surprised at the lack of coverage, I think it's important to note smaller victories like this in the civil rights movement.  Obviously, a committee defeat in a low-key state doesn't have a news hook big enough to attract a general audience, but for people who grew up in the state or know its often dismaying history of cultural retrenchment, this is huge.  Other than corn, college sports, The Jackson Five, and David Letterman, most Americans probably know Hoosier State as the onetime home of the modern KKK and the first state to be colored red on election night (often before polls close).  But it's also one of the few remaining conservative states remaining that did not write discrimination into its constitution.  As a progressive Democrat with a strong populist streak, (as much as it may pain me to admit it) I really have to give credit to big business for doing the right thing on this one.

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