Dear Editor,

The Indiana Family Institute and the American Family Association of Indiana focus on educating the public on issues of faith, family and freedom. The Indiana Family Institute is the Indiana affiliate of Focus on the Family, Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom.

The American Family Association of Indiana is the Indiana affiliate of the American Family Association. We don’t get involved in elections. However, as the lead lobbyists on the marriage amendment in the Indiana General Assembly over much of the last 10 years, we must respond to factually inaccurate information coming out of House District 22. In attempting to argue that her votes for the marriage amendment in 2011, then against the Marriage Amendment in 2014, were consistent, State Representative Rebecca Kubacki has, on multiple occasions, made historically false claims.

On Feb. 28, 2014, at a public meeting, and in public statements since then, she has argued that when she voted for the marriage amendment in 2011 it only contained the first sentence, “Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Indiana.” and that the second sentence of this second sentence amendment, “A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized.” was added in the Senate.

She goes on to claim that she unknowingly voted for both sentences when the Marriage Amendment came out of conference committee.

The problem is that the marriage amendment was introduced in 2011 with both sentences, passed the House by a vote of 70-26 on Feb. 15, 2011 (with Rep. Kubacki as one of the 70 votes in favor), passed the Senate by a vote of 40-10 on March 29, 2011 and not even a comma was ever changed throughout that process.

The Marriage Amendment never went to conference committee as the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed the exact same language, with both sentences intact, word for word. In fact, on Feb. 10, 2011 State Representative Terri Austin offered an amendment to remove the second sentence of the marriage amendment. It was defeated and Representative Kubacki voted in favor of keeping the second sentence in the marriage amendment.

Neither IFI nor AFA of Indiana wishes to tell citizens in House District 22 how to vote. What we do want is to make sure citizens understand what really happened in the Indiana General Assembly.

Ryan McCann,
Indiana Family Institute

Micah Clark,
American Family Association of Indiana