neal.mcnamara@heraldbulletin.com

ANDERSON — A family values group has launched a campaign here chastising State Rep. Terri Austin for casting a vote against a bill last session that would have let voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

On an Eighth Street building, the Tupelo, Mo.-based American Family Association erected a billboard that questions Austin’s support of traditional marriage.

“Who voted against protecting marriage?” reads the billboard. “Terri Austin.”

Austin, D-District 36, says the billboard is “unfortunate.” The head of the AFA’s Indiana branch says that the organization is focusing on her because prior to voting against the bill she came out against same-sex marriage.

“We put that up to remind people of how Rep. Austin voted,” said Micah Clark, head of AFA Indiana. “She may have to vote on that issue again, and we want people to know how she voted last time.”

But Austin stands by her vote. She is opposed to same-sex marriage, but voted against the bill because it may have put in jeopardy the rights of unwed domestic partners — specifically, in regard to domestic violence laws, and how employers provide insurance to employees who live in a domestic partnership.

“This amendment was not a one-issue amendment,” she said. “The second section and its wording was very controversial. Numerous legal scholars presented conflicting opinions about the meaning, the intent and the consequences of the wording.”

The second part of the bill, HRJ7, states, “ ... Indiana law may not be construed to require that martial status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”

The bill was created and passed in the Senate. If it were to have passed in the House, state residents would have voted on the issue this past Election Day. Since the bill was seeking to amend the state constitution, it had to pass two separately elected sessions of the General Assembly. The bill passed in 2005 and must pass again in an upcoming session before it can be brought to voters.

Austin cast the deciding vote when the bill went to the rules committee, of which she is a part, in April 2006.

The bill may be brought up in the 2008 session, according to legislators. A recent Indianapolis Star poll found more opposition to a same-sex marriage ban — 44 percent oppose the ban, up from 40 percent since a poll taken in March 2005.

Austin said that her focus in the upcoming 2008 session will be property taxes, health care and jobs, not same-sex marriage.

Austin is so far the only legislator targeted with a billboard, said Clark, although others who voted against the measure have been publicly slammed by the group via newspaper advertisements.

Jerry Alexander, who owns the building upon which the billboard is affixed, said that the group is paying about $100 per month in rent. The building happens to be the former Madison County Republican headquarters.

Alexander said that he supports a same-sex marriage ban but that his political views had nothing to do with the placement of the billboard.

“Someone offered me some money to put the sign up,” Alexander said. “It helps me pay my property taxes.”

Martha Carmichael, who is second-in-command of Madison County Democrats, said that the billboard is “tacky.”

“You’ve got to remember that Terri represents everyone,” said Carmichael. “When you’re elected, you don’t just say, ‘Well, I’m going to represent a certain group.’ I suggest that (the AFA) stays in Missouri.”

Austin’s colleague, State Rep. Jack Lutz, R-District 35, said that the AFA has the right to protest Austin, just as she has the right to vote how she wants. Lutz said that he supports the bill, simply because it would allow citizens to vote on the same-sex marriage issue.

“The only thing I’m asking is to give the electorate the right to vote on it,” he said.

Lutz said his constituents support a same-sex marriage ban.

“Most of my constituents, as far as the e-mail I get, would be in favor of it,” said Lutz, who believes marriage should be exclusively between a man and a woman.

Lutz said that when the bill was passed to the House from the Senate, it went straight to the rules committee, which usually signals that a bill will not make it to the House floor. “You can kiss that puppy good-bye,” he said.

State Sen. Timothy Lanane, D-District 25, said the billboard misrepresents Austin’s vote.

“She had the same problem with the bill that many people did,” he said. “To say that she doesn’t want to protect marriage is ridiculous.”

Clark’s group has not done a survey of Madison County residents to gauge their opinion of a same-sex marriage ban. But, Clark said, the AFA has received “a lot of contact” from people disappointed that there is no ban.

AFA members oppose same-sex marriage because, they say, it disrupts the traditional family. The group believes that homosexual couples, because they deny a child the influence of two genders, provide an inferior upbringing; they “devalue” the family unit.

“A homosexual couple is making a conscientious decision to deprive a child of a gender,” said Clark. “When you de-value the family, society suffers.”

When asked if there was a difference between a gay couple raising a child, and a single parent raising a child — because both situations would rule out the parental influence of two genders — Clark said that a single-parent home, at least, has the possibility of bringing another gender into the family.

“When you have two lesbians or two homosexual men, the chance of one of them marrying (a member of the opposite sex) is pretty slim,” said Clark.

The billboard is in a high-traffic area, facing east Eighth Street and adjacent to the bustling Madison County Government Center.

John Harp, who was also walking by the sign Thursday, said that he doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage. “But I can appreciate how she (Austin) voted,” Harp said.