Friday, November 9, 2012
What was it like to pour your heart into the marriage amendment campaign and win—or lose?
As the campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families began his victory speech at St. Paul's River Centre on Election Night, a Southwest Minneapolis resident standing in the audience started to quietly weep. "I'm very proud, very moved to be a Minnesotan right now," Florence Brammer told Patch, saying she was moved to get involved in the campaign by what she saw as an injustice done to her lesbian and gay friends in lifelong, legally-unrecognized relationships. Brammer was one of the hundreds—if not thousands—of volunteers who poured heart and soul into the pro- and anti-amendment campaigns. That emotional involvement was on prominent display at the MN United victory rally Tuesday night. Every time St. Paul resident and recent St…
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
SW Minneapolis DFL leader coy on prospects.
With a resounding victory Tuesday night and the DFL now primed to assume control of the 2013 legislative session, a prominent state senator is suggesting incoming lawmakers could try to repeal a Minnesota law banning same-sex marriage. A prominent Southwest Minneapolis legislator, though, said it was too early to discuss legalization. Sign up for our free daily newsletter | "Like" us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter Roseville state Sen. John Marty said he sees Tuesday night's election results as a changing of the guard. After just two years at the helm of the Minnesota Legislature, Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate on Tuesday night—a defeat at least some Democrats are attributing in part to the marriage and Voter …
While proponents were saying the race was still too early to call, the Associated Press called the race shortly before 2 a.m. The vote means the state constitution will not define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
The Minnesota Marriage Amendment has been rejected. The campaign to amend the Minnesota state constitution to limit the definition of marriage to strictly between heterosexual couples was defeated Tuesday by more than 51 percent of a statewide vote. With 92 percent of state precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday that Amendment 1—informally known as the Minnesota Marriage Amendment—had failed: "Vote No" won. Speaking to a cheering crowd of hundreds at St Paul's River Centre, Richard Carlbom, the campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families, told audiences that Minnesota was the first state in the nation to reject a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage at the ballot …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
MN United, MN for Marriage have a number of options if things don't go their way.
Regardless of who wins Tuesday’s vote on Minnesota's marriage amendment, this likely won't be the last voters will hear of the issue. Sign up for our free daily newsletter | "Like" us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter Recount A Possibility If the final vote tallies are close, expect a recount, said Raleigh Levine , an election law professor at St. Paul's William Mitchell College of Law. Election results won't be announced for several hours , but political parties on both sides seem to be lawyering up in case any one race requires a recount, but according to Minnpost , the main group opposing the amendment has also retained an election lawyer. Still, Levine said, don't expect a repeat of the 2008 battle between Sen. Al Franken and then-…
Monday, November 5, 2012
Public Policy Polling suggests both amendments could fail.
With Election Day less than 48 hours away, on Sunday researchers at Public Policy Polling issued the results of a new survey suggesting both constitutional amendments on Minnesota's ballot this year could fail. PPP's poll estimated support for the first amendment, which would write an existing ban same-sex marriage into the state constitution, falling to 45 percent from 49 percent in the Star-Tribune's recent Minnesota Poll. Support for the second amendment, which would require voters show a state-issued photo ID when they vote, was pegged at 46 percent, with 51 percent opposed. That's a significant drop in support since recent polls estimating the amendment would pass with 53 percent of the vote. The most recent KSTP/Survey USA poll, …
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Brad Pitt, Billy Graham weigh in as campaigns shift to getting out the vote.
Brad Pitt and the Rev. Billy Graham don't live anywhere near Minnesota. But in recent days, they both loudly declared their intense interest in the outcome of Tuesday's marriage amendment vote in emails from campaigns on either side of the issue. With less than a week to go until voters go to the polls, both campaigns are coming to the home stretch, turning their focus to getting out the vote and building a small cash reserve to fund any last-minute ads responding to opponents' charges. In an email LGBT rights group The Human Rights Campaign sent to supporters on Wednesday, Pitt challenged voters to match his $100,000 donation to campaigns in four states, including Minnesota, that are trying to defeat state constitutional amendments that…
Monday, October 29, 2012
Poll conducted from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25
According to a new poll commissioned by the Star-Tribune, support and opposition to the marriage amendment is essentially tied. The amendment would write a prohibition on legal recognition of same-sex marriages into the state constitution, reflecting current law. Some 48 percent of a poll of 800 likely Minnesota voters told the Minnesota Poll's questioners that they would be voting to pass the amendment. About 47 percent said they opposed the measure, and 5 percent said they were still undecided. Respondents were reached using both cell phones and landlines. The poll's margin of error was 3.5 percent, plus or minus. September's Minnesota Poll also showed a deadlock between the two sides. As the October Minnesota poll was conducted from Oct…
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Karyn Milos says amendment support rooted in fears about loss of religion—and empathetic conversations are the way around that.
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Sunday, October 28, 2012
To the Editor: For more than a year I and thousands of other Minnesotans have been holding conversations about the marriage amendment. We lay out our most rational arguments, citing research in biological as well as social science demonstrating that same-sex orientation is a benign, natural variation in human sexuality. We offer stories of real people who would be hurt by permanently restricting the definition of marriage to exclude same-sex couples. Many people have been persuaded that voting "no" is the right thing to do. Staunch supporters of the amendment, however, remain unmoved. They are not pondering our rational arguments. They are not empathizing with the hardships and harassment that gay people still endure in many places in our …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Gay-rights group says church leaders going against believers' opinions.
A new report from gay-rights campaigners attacks Catholic leaders for funneling "unprecedented" sums of money into Minnesota's marriage amendment battle and claims the clergy are doing so against the will of the laity. Church leaders countered, saying the charges were "shameful attempts to mislead Catholics." “The Catholic Church hierarchy has positioned itself as the leading religious organization funding discrimination against LGBT people,” Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin said in a written statement publicizing the report. Catholic dioceses and Knights of Columbus chapters from around the country have contributed over half of the $1.2 million raised by groups trying to pass the amendment, which would write a ban on …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Race is neck-and-neck.
With polls suggesting Minnesota voters are tied neck-and-neck on whether or not to insert a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution, groups on both sides are battling it out on the airwaves. According to the Star-Tribune Minnesota for Marriage, the group backing the ban, launched their first television ads this week. The paper says it is not yet sure how long and where in Minnesota the ads will run. Minnesotans United for All Families, the group trying to stop the amendment, has already launched three television ads in Minnesota. Take a look. Do you think they'll influence voters one way or the other?
Dan Johnson
6:57 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
Marriage equality requires treating gay people equally under the same laws currently in effect for straight people. It does not change "what" marriage is. It only expands "who" can participate. There is no reason to believe more of the same would require changing the laws to something different for everyone. There is no Slippery Slope with more of the same. Marriage is not inherently a risky … more ›