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Community Corner

Minneapolis Residents Turn Out in Opposition to Marriage Amendment

The House passed the proposal Saturday, and it will be on the ballot in 2012.

For the better part of three days, chants reverberated throughout the State Capitol building, and any pair of ears that pushed through the front doors under that opulent marble dome overlooking downtown St. Paul ran smack into an incoherent porridge of voices. Climbing the stairs, the rhythmic mess of sound clarified into chants from the crowd of protesters assembled in front of the House chambers.

"Just vote no!" alternated with well-worn classics of LGBT rights marches like "What do we want? Equal rights! When do we want them? Now!"

When the handful of pro-amendment protesters turned up, "Just vote yes!" would get overlaid on the former chant, with one woman's drawn out "Yes" rising and falling over the other voices.

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Equal parts exasperation and protest, Kingfield resident Betty Tisel's explanation of why she joined hundreds of same-sex marriage supporters at the State Capitol this weekend neatly encapsulated the feelings of many in attendance.

“I’m defending my family from hate,” said Betty Tisel.

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Many protesters interviewed by Southwest Minneapolis Patch hoped their voices would somehow encourage legislators to abandon the idea of a marriage amendment in favor of finding a solution to the state budget deficit. 

"This would hurt our family," said East Harriet resident Heather Ferguson on Thursday afternoon as she, her partner Annika Fjelstad and their two sons waited in line to enter the gallery above the House chambers.

"I'd like to think people's hearts can be changed," added Fjelstad. "I hope they can see that this is about real people's lives. […] This year is our 20th anniversary. We're particularly feeling the sting."

"I'm here to make sure the legislature focuses on the budget, and not on legislating discrimination," said Jamison Tessener of South Minneapolis, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice. 

"Even College Republicans think this is a non-issue," Tessener said, comparing the issue to the debate over slavery 150 years ago. "Today people look back and say, 'Remember when people had slaves? Yeah, that was stupid.'"

"I could add something about incompetence in the Legislature," Tessener chuckled.

Daniella and Sean Voysey-Olson agreed.

"There are more important things the government should be worried about," Voysey-Olson said.

The youngest Voysey-Olson, a sleepy five-week-old bundle of pink wrinkles was strapped to her mother's chest.

"We brought our daughter today because, when she's our age, we know she'll look back on this and wonder why on Earth we had this debate," Voysey-Olson said. "Now, kids wonder why a governor would try to prevent black kids from going to an integrated high school."

If these younger protesters were buoyed by what they believed to be the rising tide of history, many older protesters at the Capitol, like Ferguson and Fjelstad, took a much darker view. Theirs was a more elemental struggle against forces that could stand strong against the mere ebb and flow of the oceans. 

"I think it's important, very important that people see a diversity of religious opinion here," said Rabbi Michael Adam Latz of Lynnhurst's Shir Tikvah synagogue [Disclosure: Latz blogs for Southwest Minneapolis Patch]. 

"I'm here to show that just, good, moral people are opposed to this," Latz continued, his voice speeding up as emotion took hold.

"My job," he said as he tapped his chest, "is to focus on the moral. Legislators, their job is to focus on the budget and on jobs."

When asked what about the marriage fight brought her to the capitol, Tisel, the Kingfield resident, exhaled sharply and dropped her head for a beat.

"It feels like a waste of my precious time" to have to protest for this issue, she said as she looked up."If they're going to bring this up, we're going to show up and fight, but I have a lot of work at home I could be catching up on."

Still, Tisel said the anti-gay statements leveled by amendment supporters cut her to the quick.

"I don't understand how people who claim to love Jesus can be so cruel," she said. "I'm a lifelong Minnesotan. I've been a taxpayer since 1975, and my family contributes a lot to the community; we volunteer at our children's schools; we help with neighborhood cleanup; if a neighbor gets sick, we help them."

"Why can't we live life in peace and love?" Tisel asked. "It sounds canned, but that's what it comes down to."

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