Same-sex couples denied marriage licenses in Minneapolis
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 4:12 pm
- 7 Comments
Three same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses at the Hennepin County Courthouse on Friday, laying the groundwork for a lawsuit to repeal Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA, passed in 1997, prohibits same-sex couples from marrying and defines marriage as between two members of the opposite sex.
“We feel ecstatic that we are making progress and have done something really tangible in the process,” Duluth resident Jesse Dykhuis told the Duluth News Tribune. She and her partner, Lindzi Campbell, are among several couples gearing up to sue the state. “While we were there, our phones were just exploding with text messages of support from people.”
Doug Benson and Duane Gajewski, a couple from Minneapolis who have been together for 20 years, are helping to spearhead the lawsuit. They, along with Dykhuis and Campbell and one other couple, were denied marriage licenses on Friday. Benson said the clerk at the counter didn’t understand what was going on.
“Where’s your bride?,” “I don’t get it,” and “You can’t do that in Minnesota,” Benson recalled about the initial confusion when two men applied for a license. “We finally called for the supervisor, who did get it and was prepared with copies of the state’s discriminatory marriage statutes, which he handed out to all three couples.”
But some staff at the county office were supportive. “You go get them!” shouted one employee as the couples left.
The lawsuit is being organized by Marry Me Minnesota, a nonprofit group started by Benson. He says Minnesota’s DOMA law is uniquely vulnerable.
“It was passed by the Legislature in the same manner that the state’s recent ‘concealed carry’ gun law was passed,” Benson told the Minnesota Independent in January. “That law was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court because of the manner in which the bill was passed (by being attached as a rider instead of a stand-alone bill).”
Marry Me Minnesota has retained the law firm Mansfield, Tanick and Cohen — the same firm that brought that case against the concealed-carry gun law and won. A formal lawsuit is expected to be filed later this spring.
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Comment posted March 10, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
If nature only produced two sexes and if all members of each sex only had an attraction to members of the opposite sex, then the interests of Church and State would not collide on this issue.
Nature however, produces many genotypes besides xx and xy and gender cannot always be determined. Even if it could, our constitutional guarantee of human rights is unambiguous and unrelated to gender or to whom one chooses to love or make a home and family with. The State has a responsibility to protect the rights of all citizens to enjoy the benefits it offers.
Religious organizations however, generally view marriage as a sacramental union between a man and a woman. They are not likely to change that view any time soon, nor do they need to. In a society that guarantees freedom of religion, we have no compelling reason to force them to.
We do have a problem here with marriage. It is the marriage of Church and State. They have irreconcilable differences on this issue and they don’t need a separation, they need divorce. This constant fighting is hurting the kids.
Comment posted March 11, 2009 @ 12:54 am
I am a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual who has been married to a wonderful woman for 17 years. At some point in the next 3 years I will be having sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) and will be legally female. My wife and I have no intention of divorcing now or ever, but all that I have read about the issue points to the fact that at some point in my newly post-operative life the state will demand that my wife and I divorce.
Tell me, what’s fair about this? I don’t intend to become a raging activist for the defeat of MN-DOMA but what other option do I have? It seems that the only other option is to deny myself the SRS I’ve been seeking since childhood just to satisfy anonymous bigots.
Pingback posted March 11, 2009 @ 6:56 pm
[...] Here comes Minnesota: Three same-sex couples denied marriage licenses, lawsuit to challenge state’s DOMA to follow. [Minnesota Independent] [...]
Comment posted March 18, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
Go on and let the fight come here to MN. I was raised in a household that would adore this website. Since I grew up and started thinking for myself I realized I have a lot to make up for to gay community for passing that unnatural hatred and bigotry on to others.
So come on DOMA peeps, you just add gasoline to my fire.
Comment posted March 19, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
Well here we go…Even if you find the need to take God out of the mix it is unnatural for man to lye with man or woman to lye with woman. Our bodies were designed to procreate, hence the 2 sexes. There is no biological reason for homosexuality! That is a lie. How do you explain the majority of lesbians were sexually abused, thus turning to same sex with a hatred of men? And also with homosexual men, they also have a history of abuse by men as children. Why is this never brought up? It is not normal or natural or right. It is wrong! Today we have too many people unwilling to stand up and say something is wrong for fear of stepping on someones toes or hurting feelings or getting into trouble for being intolerant. Well I am intolerant because some things are just STUPID. Living together before marriage is also wrong, abortion is wrong, lying is wrong, and homosexuality is wrong as well. It IS choice!!!!!!
Comment posted March 20, 2009 @ 5:10 am
Headline: Same sex couples denied marriage licenses in minneapolis. My response: GOOD. It’s bad enough that the sanctity of marriage in this country is now a joke. It’s time for the moral compass to swing back and start providing good examples of decent living. Our society, et al survival depends on how we act. Children fathered out of wedlock, family structure being upended by divorce and same sex marriage provide no moral compass whatsoever to our future generations. Look around people. Look at what’s now accepted that even ten years ago would horrify. Girls selling themselves willingly to get money so they can shop. Young men treating girls like trash because both have zero self esteem. It all ties in folks…
Pingback posted December 16, 2010 @ 11:59 pm
[...] Three same-sex couples, two from Minneapolis and one from Duluth, are hoping that political and cultural shifts since 1971 bode well for their case. [...]
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