Minnesota Independent

Campaign against anti-gay marriage amendment gears up, Dayton lends support

By Andy Birkey | 06.13.11 | 9:59 am

Several groups working to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage are gearing up their efforts. Gov. Mark Dayton will speak at the first fundraising event for Minnesotans United for All Families, a coalition of groups that oppose amending the Minnesota Constitution to ban gay marriage. An official kickoff is planned next week. Conservative groups have also planned events opposing the amendment, one of which will coincide with this weekend’s RightOnline conference.

Dayton vetoes anti–gay marriage amendment in symbolic gesture

By Andy Birkey | 05.25.11 | 11:22 am

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. The veto is only symbolic — the Minnesota governor has no authority over constitutional amendments. In his veto message Dayton called the amendment “divisive and destructive” and urged Minnesotans to vote against it in 2012.

Dibble: Senate IT department to delete 100,000 pro-gay marriage emails

By Andy Birkey | 05.23.11 | 12:20 pm

Sen. Scott Dibble told Minnesota Public Radio that 100,000 emails sent to legislators by gay marriage supporters were clogging the servers and that the Senate IT department was set to delete them Monday morning. The emails, sent through the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT rights group, chided Republicans and a handful of DFLers who voted Saturday night to put a constitutional ban on gay marriage on the ballot in 2012.

Bipartisan outrage erupts over GOP’s invite to Bradlee Dean to give House prayer

By Andy Birkey | 05.20.11 | 1:02 pm

A prayer at Friday’s session of the Minnesota House given by anti-gay preacher Bradlee Dean erupted a firestorm of criticism among DFL legislators and some in the GOP. Dean, whose fiery brand of anti-LGBT preaching riled opponents of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer last fall, led the House in prayer, asserting that President Obama was not a Christian. Republican leadership, sensing controversy, asked the official House chaplain to conduct an unusual second prayer. Minnesota’s LGBT legislators said Dean’s anti-gay preaching “reveals the underlying hateful nature of the anti-gay constitutional amendment movement.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann chairs the House Tea Party Caucus

As caucus approaches, Bachmann looks to sell Iowans on faith, frugality

By Anja Sivertson | 05.13.11 | 10:59 am

While Michele Bachmann’s family and supporters see a good-hearted but penny-wise Christian mother who worked with disabled kids and took in bulimic and anorexic foster children, her opponents see a bare-knuckles campaigner with far-right views and a penchant for hyperbole and misstating facts in attacking opponents.

Sen. Dibble on gay marriage vote: ‘The GOP made a grave, grave mistake’

By Andy Birkey | 05.12.11 | 2:03 pm

Reaction to the passage of a Republican anti–gay marriage amendment in the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday was swift. “They have made a grave, grave mistake, and I think they will see that soon,” Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, the only member of the LGBT community in the Senate. The bill’s author, Maple Grove Republican Warren Limmer, dodged questions by Dibble and reporters about whether he thinks same-sex marriage is immoral and whether the measure was really about morality. Though he didn’t answer, Limmer has made his opposition to homosexuality very clear in his 20 years in office.

Minnesota Senate votes to put constitutional amendment on gay marriage before voters

By Andy Birkey | 05.11.11 | 3:38 pm

A proposal to place a question on the 2012 ballot that would alter the Minnesota Constitution to ban same-sex marriage passed the Senate on Wednesday afternoon by a vote of 38 to 27. The measure is waiting its final committee hearing in the House before that chamber votes on it. Virtually all of the testimony on the Senate floor was in opposition to the bill, which led one legislator to question whether supporters were ashamed to speak in support of it.

Republican Sens. Dan Hall, Warren Limmer, David Hann and Paul Gazelka

Minnesota Republicans offer constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage

By Andy Birkey | 04.26.11 | 4:18 pm

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.

GOP rejects anti-bullying measure

By Andy Birkey | 04.01.11 | 1:06 pm

As the Minnesota Senate debated a K-12 education budget bill on Thursday, Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis) offered an amendment that would strengthen the state’s anti-bullying laws. The proposal would instruct school districts to set up trainings for staff — from teachers to bus drivers — on how to handle bullying. The bill was defeated on a party line vote, with Republicans voting against it.

Minnesota Capitol. Photo: Paul Weimer, Flickr

Sen. Hall: Minneapolis ‘destroyed’ by integration

By Andy Birkey | 04.01.11 | 8:23 am

A move by Minnesota Republicans to repeal school integration laws resulted in heated debate about the decades-long program that aims to diversify schools in the Twin Cities metro area and Duluth. During a floor debate on elimination of desegregation programs Thursday, Sen. Dan Hall, R-Burnsville, said, “I watched Minneapolis get destroyed, so I not only didn’t want my kids in the school system. I took them out of Minneapolis because they ruined our neighborhoods with integration and [de]segregation.”