“[W]henever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”
Along party lines, the House Civil Law Committee passed a bill Monday to put a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage in Minnesota to one man and one woman before voters. In a hearing in which religious leaders far outnumbered legal testifiers, emotions ran high as the father of a gay soldier killed in Afghanistan appealed to veterans to oppose the amendment.
Republicans in the Minnesota Senate introduced three bills on Tuesday that aim to put a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage before voters in 2012. Minnesota law already outlaws same-sex marriage. State Democrats say the bill is a distraction from the economic crisis — and a state budget that the GOP has yet to pass.
Judge Mary DuFresne dismissed a lawsuit by three Minnesota same-sex couples seeking the right to marry on Tuesday. DuFresne dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning the decision can be appealed. The couples –Duane Gajewski and Doug Benson, Lindzi Campbell and Jesse Dykhuis, John Rittman and Tom Trisko — have vowed to bring their case to a higher court. The case was filed in Minnesota’s Fourth District Court after the couples were denied marriage licenses in Hennepin County in spring 2010.
On the first day of the legislative session, the Republican majority in the Minnesota House voted down an amendment to the rules that would put fixing the state budget deficit before any constitutional amendments. The rule, offered by Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis), was referred to the Rules Committee for further consideration by a vote of 74 to 60. DFL Rep. Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley criticized the vote as an indication that the Republican majority may prioritize delving into divisive social issues over fixing the budget deficit.
Brad Brandon, the Hastings pastor who endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer from the pulpit, said Emmer will lose after the vote recount because he didn’t reach out to evangelicals on social issues. On his radio program, Brandon chided Emmer: “He refused to allow God into his campaign, that’s what it boils down to.” Emmer dodged questions about abortion and gay rights at every turn during the campaign, including on Brandon’s show.
Religious right groups in Minnesota and around the country said that Tuesday’s landslide victories for Republicans were due to their efforts — and they might be right. Anti-abortion groups claim they ousted incumbents who were previously “pro-life” but voted for health care reform, which the groups inaccurately stated will fund abortions. And massive anti-gay marriage campaigns throughout Minnesota preceded losses by same-sex marriage supporters at the Legislature.
Now that Iowans have voted to oust three state Supreme Court justices, conservatives are beginning to wonder if they have the momentum to push to overturn the court’s 2009 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
A television ad by the National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) in support of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was called “highly misleading, but it’s not completely false” by WCCO’s Reality Check with Pat Kessler on Tuesday.
In a video accompanying Minnesota bishops’ anti-gay marriage campaign, Archbishop John Neinstedt says that “the time has come for the voters to be presented directly with an amendment to our state constitution.” The bishop’s video will be distributed to more than a million Minnesota Catholics in the coming weeks along with a DVD produced by the Knights of Columbus.
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