Racing through the corridors of the State Capitol with these young LGBT rights activists, you wouldn’t know that yet another legislative session seems likely to pass by without Minnesotans having achieved marriage equality. Sponsors of the marriage equality bill in both the House and the Senate have both acknowledged that while the bill is still alive, and may even make it out of committee in the Senate to be voted on by the full body, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to win passage in both the House and Senate this year. On top of Pawlenty’s oft-stated hostility toward same-gender marriage, the DFL leadership in either the House or the Senate has yet to voice support for moving the bill forward for a vote this session.
The mood was upbeat and defiant in the face of the prevailing political winds, but OutFront Minnesota’s policy director Monica Meyer said the group still had a lot of work to do to build a network of supporters that could mobilize large numbers in every legislative district in Minnesota to counter pressure on state senators and representatives from conservative religious groups.
“The woman [a receptionist or aide] told us ‘there’s a lot of people in Minnesota’ when we asked why he wouldn’t come out to see us,” Amaris said tartly.
Their plans came to an abrupt halt in front of a locked door – with the speech not scheduled to begin for another 30 minutes, and the balcony wasn’t yet open. The group wound their way back to the capitol’s ground floor, a little deflated, but determined to let at least some of their elected officials know about their support for equality. The ten students and three activist-chaperones from Rochester Planned Parenthood had been up since 5 AM in order to attend the early morning rally, and one could sense they weren’t going away empty-handed.
“If it’s something you feel passionate about, you’re willing to do anything for it,” Amaris said matter-of-factly, even if that meant getting up before sunrise and driving for two hours in the dark.