Tag: Minnesota

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Minnesota: Same-sex marriage bills set for debate this week

The Minnesota state legislature will begin addressing whether or not to repeal the state’s anti-gay marriage law this week as the issue goes to committee’s in both state chambers.

With strong Democratic numbers in each committee, the bills are expected to make their way to debate in the full chambers. However, Republicans and rural Democrats oppose the concept, so passage is far from certain.

But there are Republicans who see the direction of history, like Chairman Ryan Lyk of Minnesota College Republicans.  From Grand Forks Herald:

“It is not the role of government to dictate who can be married, whose love is valid and which families matter more than others,” Chairman Lyk said. “Marriage benefits society in many ways and I cannot in good conscience support excluding same-sex couples from that important institution.”

Lyk said he does not speak for everyone in his organization, but “I know I speak for many young Republicans when I say that it is time for the Republican Party to move past this issue.”

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Freedom To Marry announces $2 million in support for marriage equality in 6 states

According to Buzzfeed, Freedom to Marry has just announced they plan to spend $2 million in 2013 to advance marriage equality efforts around the country:

According to a statement provided to BuzzFeed, Freedom to Marry is starting the 2013 effort — called the Win More States Fund — by investing $800,000 in the six states where marriage bills are being debated: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

“Building on our 4 for 4 ballot victories in November, Freedom to Marry is calling on supporters to join us in continuing the momentum and winning still more states in 2013.

“With the clock ticking on the Supreme Court’s review of marriage cases, we want to make as much progress as we can – and with battles already underway now in state capitals, we all need to put our money where our momentum is,” Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, said in a statement.

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Minnesota: Same-sex marriage bill to be introduced in “a month or two”

The Minnesota state senator who will take the lead in that chamber on a bill to legalize gay marriage says backers will wait at least a month or two into the upcoming legislative session before they start to push it hard.

Sen. Scott Dibble of Minneapolis says Wednesday that Democrats taking power at the Capitol next week plan to focus early in the session on what he called “kitchen-table issues” of improving the economy and creating jobs.

But he says gay marriage backers in the Legislature want a vote in 2013.

Dibble, who is gay, says he believes allowing same-sex couples to marry is a kitchen-table issue too.

(via CBS)

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Minnesota: Gov. Mark Dayton would sign marriage equality legislation

Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota said he would sign marriage equality legislation if it reached his desk.

Dayton, a Democrat, made the comments in an interview Thursday, according to Minnesota Public Radio. He added that he was unsure whether the legislature was ready to take up the issue, however.

“I hope we’re going to get to that point,” he said. “The younger generation is broadly accepting of that change and we’ll get there, it’s just a question of when.”

Last year Dayton symbolically vetoed Minnesota’s ultimately failed ballot measure to place a ban on same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

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Watch Minnesota’s big moment as they defeat anti-gay amendment

At 1:45 a.m., Campaign Manager Richard Carlbom of Minnesotans United for All Families announced to campaign staff and board members that the vote on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was too close to call.

As he was about to end his remarks and tell everyone to get some sleep, the news came that the Associated Press had confirmed the defeat of the amendment.

The big moment is at the 3:00 mark. This is joy.

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Chris Kluwe quits the Twin Cities Pioneer Press

Chris Kluwe, the staunch LGBT ally and Minnesota Vikings punter, left his freelance post at the St. Paul Pioneer Press over that publication’s op-ed supporting an amendment to the state constitution that would define marriage as one man, one woman.

Kluwe’s outrage comes not from the Pioneer Press having an opinion on the amendment; it comes from pretending that the op-ed wasn’t endorsing one side when it clearly was.

Kluwe wrote one more blog post for the paper explaining in detail after detail why he felt the op-ed was dishonest and downright lied. 

From Chris Kluwe’s final post on TwinCities.com:

How does this piece lie? It lies, most simply, in this sentence, “the Pioneer Press is not endorsing one way or another.”

You have made your endorsement, gentlemen. You chose your side. What you did not choose, what you refused to face, was the courage to stand for your convictions, to attach your names to the position your actions claimed. That is why I will no longer associate with you, why I decline to give you page views and ad revenue any longer. The only reason I’m posting this piece here, and not somewhere else, is because I said I would, and I believe that one’s word is not something to be given lightly.

I will not stand for the continual eroding of society. I will not tolerate the presentation of a biased argument under a thin coat of presumed neutrality. I will not contribute to the cheapening of discourse and thought that decays every single news as entertainment outlet in this country. I absolutely will not compromise my ethics and morality, ideals that lead me to treat others with empathy and honesty, to demand truth not only from myself but from those around me.

You can see Chris’ tweets from Saturday below:

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Minnesota: Madonna tells audience to vote “no” on anti-gay amendment

Madonna was at the Twin Cities on Saturday night and asked fans at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul vote “No” on Minnesota’s anti-gay marriage amendment this Tuesday.

Said Madonna: “Vote ‘no’ on the marriage amendment. Vote ‘no’ on the marriage amendment. Why? Why? Because we are a democracy and we should have the freedom to choose who we want to marry. Thank you very much. Did you hear what I said? Are you gonna vote no? Are you gonna vote no? Are you gonna vote no?”