Marriage Equality bill likely to drop Thursday

The much anticipated Marriage and Family Protection Act is likely to be submitted in the Minnesota Senate Thursday morning, bill proponents say. The act would make Minnesota statutes related to marriage gender neutral and would open the door for same-sex marriage.

The same bill was introduced at the end of the session last year and died in committee, but this year it already has a leg up. OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization is supporting the measure and it has picked up more support in the House than last year. Its introduction in the Senate during the second week of the session means the bill will likely get heard in committee.

It’s doubtful the bill will become law as Gov. Tim Pawlenty is likely to veto any pro-LGBT bill that crosses his desk.

Sen. John Marty is the chief author of the bill and Sens. Linda Higgins, Mee Moua, Scott Dibble and Patricia Torres Ray are sponsoring the bill in the Senate. A Senate bill can have a maximum of five authors.

In the House, the bill is expected to have more authors than last year. Already 19 are confirmed as authors according to bill proponents: Reps. David Bly, Karen Clark, Jim Davnie, Mindy Greiling, Alice Hausman, Jeff Hayden, Bill Hilty, Frank Hornstein, Carolyn Laine, John Lesch, Tina Liebling, Diane Loeffler, Carlos Mariani, Erin Murphy, Linda Slocum, Cy Thao, Jean Wagenius and Ryan Winkler.

Bill supporters are encouraging members of the community to come to the Capitol Thursday to show support. “This is not a rally and there will not be chanting or speeches,” said David Strand on behalf of Marriage Equality Minnesota, a group that backs the bill and has organized a Facebook campaign for it. “But your friendly volunteer bill proponents, Doug and Dave, invite you to join us if you can and bring your friendly faces to help us mark this day at the Capitol!”