Indiana House Candidate Quits GOP In Disgust Over Obsessive Anti-Marriage Equality Efforts
by Simone Sanner
Openly gay Indiana House Candidate Andy Markle,
who is running for a seat in District 99, has left the Republican Party
in disgust after a surprisingly underhanded piece of legislative
slight-of-hand on the part of Indiana Republican House Speaker Brian
Bosma. This, after weeks of shenanigans from Markle's fellow Republicans
aimed solely at passing a ban on gay marriage in the state of Indiana.
Republicans twisted the knife shortly before Markle's actions
by amending the ban on gay marriage to include the elimination of all
rights - including civil unions and any other state-level legal
recognition of same-sex marriage.
The
ongoing saga of the proposed ban on gay marriage has been repeatedly
punctuated by controversy as any pretense of representing the will of
the people or even adhering to a semblance of the democratic process has
been hurriedly abandoned. Republicans in Indiana have shown that their
intent is to pass the ban as law, and the legislative process along with
any other legal trappings are to be considered merely formalities
toward this end.
Markle
is the director of GOProud, an organization dedicated to furthering
conservative ideals in conjunction with the support of the LGBT
community. He has put a lifetime of effort both professionally and
personally into furthering the cause of equal rights only to see his
fellow Republicans demonstrate an absolute contempt for the community
Markle champions. Markle remarked "I am not leaving the Republican
Party, the Republican Party has left me." Markle clearly felt this venom
was aimed at him directly, rather than the community into which he was
born.
Indiana
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma has been attempting to push a
proposal to ban gay marriage as a referendum before the people after
failing to ram it through the legislature in 2011. After Bosma
discovered a pending vote of rejection in a committee he appointed to
investigate the feasibility of putting the measure up for a referendum,
he quickly moved the proposal to another committee which he determined
would pass the measure.
This
hunting for a desired outcome on the part of Bosma demonstrates a
sickening disregard for the spirit of the legislative body of which he
is a member. Andy Markle found he could no longer defend the actions of
the Republicans in Indiana as they march ever toward their dream of a
fascist state. Markle plans on continuing to run for the legislature,
now as an Independent.
It is not surprising that Markle left the Republican party given the party's penchant for slitting its own throat.
Read more about the Hoosier state of mind regarding gay rights here.
h/t: FON
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