Dots of Blue and Red
The original version was posted on my LinkedIn account on January 20, 2020.
As Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a married gay man from Indiana is awaiting the outcomes of the caucuses in Iowa, along with the other candidates, my mind returns to a pivotal moment before the 2008 election as same-sex marriage rights were being debated in Indiana. At the time, I was one of a handful of openly gay professors at Purdue University, and I was closely following both a proposed same-sex marriage ban in Indiana and predictions on which candidate would win the state. Even writing “married gay man from Indiana” was not quite fathomable unless it was a man who was, or had been, married to a woman.
FiveThirtyEight‘s Sean Quinn quoted former Senator Birch Bayh as predicting that on the night of November 4, America would see something new on the map when Indiana reported: “a dot of blue.” My last night canvassing in Tippecanoe County, November 3rd, I only had to go knock on three doors across a subdivision of around one hundred houses. Everyone else was checked off our list. Two of the three were home and assured me they were voting on Tuesday and that we could count on them, and they did not need a ride. I went back to the Obama office on Main St. in downtown Lafayette, and everyone said they had similar experiences. The dozens of volunteers in the office, many from Illinois, had been living with us for several weeks, literally. Many with apartments or homes downtown had become accustomed to extra guests who were sleeping on couches or in spare rooms. They were also keeping the downtown bars, liquor stores, and restaurants a lot busier than usual. The past month had been simply magical as some otherwise unoccupied storefronts had come to life. Their efforts, on top of the great organizing from Purdue students and many others, helped deliver what Bayh predicted, with Obama winning Tippecanoe County at 55.2% and Indiana by 1.03%. But, before the 2008 election, something else was also going on in Indiana that makes the Pete Buttigieg trajectory seem even more astounding.
Before 2008, twenty-seven US states had banned same-sex marriage in popular votes. Florida and California joined with Arizona in enacting bans in 2008. Indiana voters never got a chance to vote on a same-sex marriage amendment because the effort to get one on the ballot stalled out despite repeated attempts. Some in the state had hoped to use it to enhance conservative voter turnout in the 2008 election, but that never came to pass in 2008 or subsequent elections.
So, how is it possible that Indiana, of all conservative states, never passed an amendment banning same-sex marriage? One crucial factor is the requirement in Article 16 that for an amendment to appear on the state ballot, the measure must be approved by a majority of two successive, separately-elected legislatures with precisely the same language. The other crucial factor was the persistent, passionate and dedicated work of a broad coalition of folks committed to social justice.
About nineteen months earlier, in March 2007, I had been asked to “be ready” to testify in a House committee hearing on the 2007 Senate Joint Resolution 7 (SJR-7) of the Indiana legislature, which stated: “(a) Marriage in Indiana consists only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”
Many of us were particularly concerned that the second part of 2007’s SJR-7 would jeopardize the domestic partner benefits many of us only recently were able to access. We were even more concerned by how often those advocating for SJR-7 to pass repeated that they were not really trying to compromise partner benefits. One challenge for Indiana’s public universities was that the state has a two-year budget process, and the same legislature that would be voting to put forward the same-sex marriage amendment would be voting on their funding. A united front was considered safer and having Purdue, as one of two flagship universities in Indiana, join in the hearing was essential. After significant lobbying, Purdue chose not to participate in an official capacity. So, I was asked to speak as a private citizen in a slot previously designated for a senior Purdue official by the coalition organizing the case against the amendment.
TV cameras, photographers, and reporters with notebooks were lined-up and cameras and eyes followed me as I was called forward to speak at the microphone, following companies, community organizations and LGBT* organizations like PFLAG. I took a deep breath and said, “Good morning.”
In my remarks, I emphasized how essential inclusive state policies are to retaining top talent at universities. I noted, “Research at top universities is increasingly conducted using teams of 3, 5, 10, or more faculty members. Like any team, the loss of just one key team member, whether they be gay, lesbian, transgender, or straight, can be the difference between winning and losing that next multimillion-dollar research grant or being first to that important discovery.” Testifying alongside representatives from forward-thinking companies like Cummins and Eli Lilly, and in front of LGBT folks who had brought parents or children was amazing.
“I have given hundreds of lectures. None has been as important as this five minutes. As you deliberate on decisions that will affect the future of our state, I ask each and every one of you to consider how you would answer the following test question: Can we really afford to make Indiana a less welcoming and less tolerant place?”
Bilerico.com gave the outcome two weeks later: “History has been made, folks! SJR-7, the proposed amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage and civil unions, has been defeated in committee. The amendment is dead.”
With that, Indiana’s conservatives would have no marriage amendment to weaponize in the 2008 election. Obama won Indiana and Purdue’s Tippecanoe County became a blue dot. An amazing operation of volunteers from all over the midwest took over Lafayette, Indiana’s Main St. for a few weeks before the election to help make that happen. Four years later, Obama lost Indiana to Mitt Romney in a trend matching a further takeover of the state by the GOP . Tippecanoe County switched back to red. In that same 2012 election, Mike Pence was elected as governor succeeding Mitch Daniels. Unlike Daniels, who called himself a “believer in traditional marriage,” but was generally evasive in expressing his opinions on LGBT rights, Mike Pence was explicitly seen as a religious conservative opposed to LGBT rights. Then, in 2015 the SCOTUS decision on Obergefell v. Hodges ended, we hope, the debate over whether everyone can marry the person they love.
Now, we await the Iowa caucuses to discover whether Pete’s husband, Chasten Buttigieg, will be on a possible course to succeed Melania Trump as First Spouse, potentially organizing, among other things, the 2021 “Christmas” decorations for the White House and where First Dogs Truman and Buddy take their walks. For that previously inconceivable holiday, maybe a switch from the recent monochromatic tree designs to something a bit more like a rainbow would be in order. Even if it doesn’t happen, it never hurts to dream just a bit before the election results begin to come in.
*In 2007 LGBT was used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, but the sequence has grown to designate and be inclusive of more groups and identities.
The words and opinions here are entirely mine, and not those of my employer. I am happy to include corrections or updates if they make sense. If you do know someone whom I should have cited, I am happy to cite their work and stand corrected. © Keith J Bowman, 2020
11/12/2021 The added chapter of Mayor Pete as Secretary Pete and he and Chasten’s new life with twins is simply icing on the cake for all of this. Although I am sometimes a bit jaded at their family modeling, the breakthrough elements of their uniquely visible life are all part of events that would have seemed impossible not that long ago. That the election would turn out as it has makes it all seem a lot more like fiction.
