House Speaker Pat Bauer said today that a committee chairman will be the one who decides the fate of the resolution that would place a ban on gay marriage in the Indiana Constitution.  

Last year he let Rules Committee Chairman Scott Pelath decide to give it a hearing.  The measure was defeated in a committee vote.

Bauer said he’s still looking for the people in illegal marriages in violation of Indiana law, which already prohibits same sex unions, thereby indicating his opposition to the resolution.

The Speaker said that he won’t decide which committee chairman will deal with the bill this year till he sees it on his desk.

Sen. Brandt Hershman will file SJR 7, the proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, in the 2008 General Assembly but it may not get a hearing. 

Hershman say he plans to ask the Indiana House to take up the matter first and House Speaker Pat Bauer indicated months ago that he things the House has higher priorities.  Bauer committed to a vote last year but not this year.

Hershman got the resolution through the state Senate last year only to see it die in the House and has no appetite to repeat the experience.

“I’ve been through it three times,” said Hershman, who also won previous approval in the Senate.

Defeat this year would mean that proponents of the ban will have to start from scratch in the process that can take five years.