On Saturday, April 17th Maggie Gallagher from the National Organization for Marriage and The Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, Bishop of Oakland. California who led the anti-gay hate rhetoric that got Proposition 8 approved that took away marriage equality in California will be leading a workshop at the University of St. Thomas. Archbishop Neinstedt of the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis invited them here in response to the Minnesota Legislatures introduction of marriage equality bills in both the House and Senate. Their goal is to be sure they can do every thing within their power to prevent marriage equality from becoming law in Minnesota.
As a former Roman Catholic who was also a 13 year employee of many Catholic Parishes as an organist and music director, and a former participant in the Catholic ex-gay ministry Courage, I can tell you that the Catholic church’s efforts to keep marriage equality from becoming law in Minnesota will not be a nice fight in any way, shape or form. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Catholic church will operate a full smear campaign about LGBT people, homosexual relationships and any candidate who supports marriage equality. There will be no limit as to how low NOM will go to pour millions of dollars into candidates who will not allow marriage equality to become law in Minnesota.
The potential threat for the legalization for marriage equality cannot be underestimated. Therefore we should be pouring our hard earned money into the best candidate who not only supports marriage equality in Minnesota, but already has it in the works to become law once he is elected Governor. John Marty is the author of SF 120 the bill that will make legal marriage gender neutral in Minnesota making it possible for same-sex couples to wed. In protest to the Archdiocesan workshop on April 17th, I would like to propose we raise as much money as possible. for John Marty’s campaign for Governor. Just click on John Marty for Governor and make a donation.
The LGBT Community in Minnesota has the opportunity to have a real progressive Governor who will stand up to special interest groups like NOM, the Minnesota Family Council and the Catholic church. We need a Governor who is strong, fearless and capable in the face of such difficult challenges. I believe John Marty along with his running mate Patricia Torres Ray will get the job done.