Tag: Minnesota

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Minnesota Vikings Chris Kluwe supports marriage equality

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe is supporting marriage equaltiy in Minnesota.

He’s recorded a radio ad combatting a proposed state constitutional amendment that would further cement Minnesota’s existing ban on same-sex marriage.

The NFL player calls Minnesota’s existing ban on marriage equality “anti-American” and “anti-freedom.”

According to Care2MakeADifference, “Kluwe’s comments were made as part of a video he recorded for Minnesotans for Equality. The group is working to defeat the amendment that will go before voters at the November ballot.”

Kluwe says, “Excluding gay couples from marriage is a  meaningless and reckless restriction of individual freedom and basic human  rights. This amendment is an extreme change to our constitution, making it  impossible to change for decades to come.”

Kluwe, who is married with two young daughters, continues: “To deny an  entire group of people the ability to be legal couples is anti-American and  anti-freedom. As a devoted husband and father of two, I can’t imagine the state  of Minnesota not recognizing my love for my wife Isabel. We would welcome and  respect the equal rights for gays to experience the same joy and privileges of marriage that we do. Please don’t limit the freedom to  marry for anyone. So this November, vote no to the marriage discrimination  amendment. It’s the right thing to do.”

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Minnesota for Marriage says gays should be “put to death”

The anti-gay Minnesota for Marriage, a conservative group trying to prohibit marriage equality, posted this on their Facebook account yesterday.

Such groups often claim to be coming from a place from love, but this message about gay men being put to death proves otherwise.

By the way – I await the Facebook post about Leviticus 11:10-12 which says eating shellfish is an abomination also.  I wonder if Minnesota for Marriage wants the shellfish industry put to death….?

(Via Good.As.You)

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Former Minnesota Governor denounces anti-gay marriage amendment

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura says he’ll do anything he can to defeat the anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot there in November, the Post Bulletin reports:

Ventura said the issue is personal for him because when he was a professional wrestler he had a friend who was gay who had been with his partner for more than 20 years. When his friend’s partner got sick, he was unable to be by his bedside because hospital rules allowed only spouses or next of kin.

“And because they are not allowed to be married, he’s neither. That’s cruel,” he said.

Ventura said he believes the majority should not be able to make decisions about the civil rights of a minority.

“If you did that, we would still have slavery because the majority isn’t going to think about the minority,” he said. “You have to have politicians with courage, who will stand up and say this is a civil rights issue, and where do we get off that the government should decide who you should fall in love with and marry?”

(Via Towleroad)

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Support for marriage equality grows in Minnesota

Public Policy Polling reveals quite a shift in the past four months with regards to Minnesota voters’ stance on same-sex marriage.

Here are three of the proposed questions asked of 973 Minnesota voters from May 31 to June 3. The surveys have a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

Q1 Should the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?

Yes: 43%

No: 49%

Not sure: 7%

Q2 Do you think same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal?

Legal: 47%

Illegal: 42%

Not sure: 11%

Q3 Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship?

Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry: 43%

Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry: 32%

There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship: 21%

Not sure: 4%

Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling says, “The pro-equality side is now winning on gay marriage ballot initiatives in Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington. The landscape has changed significantly since Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage.”
(source)

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Obama campaign announces opposition to anti-gay Minnesota amendment

The Obama campaign has announced its opposition to the marriage amendment that will be on the November ballot in Minnesota that would restrict marriage only to opposite-sex couples there, echoing a theme from its earlier opposition to such an amendment in North Carolina that will appear on the May primary ballot.

According to a statement released today by Obama for America Minnesota Communications Director Kristin Sosanie, she said, “While the President does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples.”

In the statement provided to Metro Weekly, she continued, “That’s what the Minnesota ballot initiative would do — it would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples — and that’s why the President does not support it.”

The proposed Minnesota marriage amendment reads: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota.” Unlike the proposed North Carolina amendment, it does not address recognition of other relationships like civil unions or domestic partnerships. Same-sex couples cannot marry currently, however, in either state.

More at MetroWeekly

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MINNESOTA: Anti-gay GOP Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch Resigns in Scandal

State Senator of Minnesota Amy Koch

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch (R) has resigned under a cloud of  disgrace after allegations of an affair with a Senate staffer.

Koch, who is is married with one child, was one of the proponents of Minnesota’s 2012 anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.

Koch resigned Thursday and said she wouldn’t seek re-election in 2012, while on Friday her fellow Republicans dealt with shocking allegations that led to her decision.

At a Capitol news conference Friday, Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina) said Senate staff recently brought up allegations of an “inappropriate relationship between Majority Leader Koch and a Senate staffer.”

“We sit here with a lot of humility, sadness, and shock,” Michel said.

Michel said multiple staffers reported allegations to Senate leaders. He said he doesn’t know how long the relationship was going on and legally cannot discuss the name of the Senate staffer involved with Sen. Koch. On whether or not the relationship was sexual, Michel said “I think there’s only two people who could fully characterize that,” but GOP leaders said they never heard the word “sexual” used when the allegations surfaced.

At the press conference, Sen. Michel used the phrases “inappropriate,” a “conflict of interest” and created an “unstable work environment for staff.”

Why is it so many anti-gay rights politicians end up with these hypocritical ‘skeletons’ in their closets?