Monday, I posted a Story To Watch about an article I read in the Indianapolis Star, which explained that the state's legislature wasn't very likely to take any steps toward passing a constitutional ban on marriage for gay couples. As one of only three Midwestern states without an anti-marriage constitutional amendment, this is hopeful news. Though Indiana does have a statute banning married (enacted in 1997), Hoosiers haven't taken the next step to place this discrimination into the constitution. And according to those in the know, state lawmakers aren't planning on doing that any time soon. In fact, anti-gay lawmakers have failed at pushing a marriage ban amendment forward in the past two legislative sessions, but both times the amendment has died in the House Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee. "It's not a hot-button issue after all," Jon Keep, Indiana Equality's president told the Muncie Star-Press. "This is not on the top of people's minds." Why? Walter Botich, Indiana Equality's legislative chair, summed up the issue for many state leaders:

"We've got an economy that is not doing well, we've got people who are losing jobs, and yet some people want to harp on these same issues that are pulling people apart at a time we should be coming together to solve these big problems."