Same-sex Marriage

Though the Maine Legislature passed legislation to allow same-sex marriage, residents voted against the bill in a ballot measure on election day by a margin of 53 to 47 percent. The Catholic church was a major funder of the forces opposed to same-sex marriage, and as MPR’s Tom Scheck notes, Minnesota Catholic were among those [...]

Faith leaders from several faith traditions gathered at the Capitol in St. Paul on Thursday afternoon to speak out in support of marriage rights for gays and lesbians in Minnesota.

In the five months since the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples could legally marry in that state, 676 same-sex couples have married there as of July 27, according to a report by the Des Moines Register. Of those, 36 couples were from Minnesota.
On Sunday, that number jumped by nine as a [...]

Temple of Aaron in St. Paul is Minnesota’s first Conservative synagogue to bless same-sex unions following a unanimous decision by the board of directors in July. The first ceremony, between Alex Locke and Chad Hewitt, is already planned for October 2010. Despite the name, the Conservative Jews reject a fundamentalist teachings and in 2006 ruled [...]

After hours of debate at the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted Friday evening to lift its ban on openly gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships. Advocates on both sides made passionate pleas, with proponents saying the future of the church depends on a more progressive stance on homosexuality and opponents saying the decision could split the church.

Two close calls marked the third day of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Wednesday. The nearly 2,000 people assembled at the Minneapolis Convention Center took cover as a tornado nipped the building and damaged the steeple of a Lutheran church across the street. A short time later, the 1,014 voting members passed a social statement relaxing church doctrine on homosexuality with a dramatic vote that was exactly a two-thirds majority.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was questioned on Wednesday about marriage case law in Minnesota. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed Sotomayor about same-sex marriage precedent — without actually mentioning gays or marriage — by using Baker v. Nelson, a 1971 ruling by the Minnesota Supreme outlawing same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

President Obama’s Justice Department filed a brief on Thursday to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act in a lawsuit brought against the federal government by married same-sex couples from California. The Justice Department’s move has angered marriage equality advocates who say Obama is backing away from his campaign promise to repeal DOMA.

On Wednesday afternoon, the New Hampshire Legislature passed and Gov. John Lynch signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in that state. New Hampshire is now the sixth state to legalize marriage for gays and lesbians and the fourth to do so via legislation. Iowa, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut have all legalized same-sex marriage.

The California Supreme Court released its opinion on Tuesday upholding Proposition 8, a controversial voter initiative that passed in November and ended the right of same-sex couples in California to marry. That right was extended by the same court in early 2008. While the court decided to retain the proposition today, they also ruled [...]