Ten Years of Marriage Equality in Indiana Shows We Can Win Big Changes

Editor's note: a slightly different version of this blog ran in today’s Capital Chronicle. 

As of last Sunday, marriage equality has been the law in Indiana for 10 years. On October 6, 2014, almost a year before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the fundamental right to marry nationwide, a handful of cases, including one brought by the ACLU of Indiana, established that right in Indiana and Wisconsin. The most telling sign of how far culture has shifted as a result is the feeling most of us have that “it’s only been 10 years?” 

There are certain societal changes that take root so thoroughly that it’s hard to remember just how deeply people opposed them. Marriage equality is one of them.

It’s important to note that while the vast majority of people in the U.S. no longer fear legal rights for same-sex couples, the threat to those rights hasn’t gone away. As six U.S. Supreme Court justices proved in their unprincipled decision overturning Roe v Wade, even “settled” constitutional rights can be stripped away. But that risk looms over a country that has come a long way in a decade.

Today, Gallup polling shows that 69% of people in the United States support marriage equality. Ten years ago, only 55% did. And ten years before that, 42% of Americans were in support and 55% were opposed. That is a complete reversal in attitudes in two decades. I’ve seen the results of that shift in support in my own life. 

My husband and I were married two years ago. Since then, we’ve needed to interact with each other’s medical providers, dozens of people at the Department of Child Services as foster parents, and administrators and teachers at our son’s school and afterschool programs. And while it isn’t everyone’s experience around the state, we’ve yet to encounter even the slightest resistance to recognizing us as a family. As simple as this common dignity sounds in 2024, it felt almost unattainable when I came out as gay in 1992. During that time, politicians routinely attacked their gay, lesbian, and bisexual constituents in order to stoke support among their base. 

Unfortunately, the perceived electoral benefit certain politicians leveraged in the 1990s hasn’t diminished. It has just shifted to transgender and nonbinary people and their families. The routine nature of attacks from our statehouse on transgender Hoosiers is part of a nationally coordinated electoral strategy. It has resulted in a tragic reversal in the quality of life, access to health care, and safety for transgender people and their families in our state over the last five years. The fight against these laws is in full effect, but there have been several setbacks already. 

And disability rights advocates have helpfully expanded the understanding of marriage equality to include changing policies that economically penalize some people for getting married. Right now, federal law strips some individuals with disabilities of their Social Security benefits simply because they marry someone who isn’t disabled. The fight to change this law is an example of the ongoing evolution of marriage that needs to happen. 

The good news is that the last ten years of marriage equality in Indiana – and the years long fight for legal recognition that preceded it – clearly demonstrate that legal and societal change is possible. The ACLU of Indiana and our partners here and across the country work every day to push our states and nation to live up to our constitutional values. 

If you’re not already, you have a role to play as well. As you know, our state legislature is directly responsible for attacks on transgender Hoosiers. On November 5th, we’ll have a chance to retain or vote out many of the legislators who passed these harmful laws. Make sure your friends and family are aware.

And whoever your state Representative and Senator are after the election, reach out to them and let them know you want them to work to reverse state laws that cause harm to our transgender neighbors. You can also contact your Congressperson and Indiana’s U.S. Senators and urge them to back common-sense bills supporting Hoosiers with disabilities, like the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act. 

The way forward in creating a state and a nation rooted in shared constitutional values is rarely linear and never easy. But it is possible.