Rabbis oppose the anti-gay marriage amendment, as do the Independence Party of Minnesota activists. Minnesota for Marriage makes claims that have been heavily criticized and one Brainerd woman is worried that gay marriage will lead to more tornadoes.

A letter to the editor of the Brainerd Dispatch warns of God’s wrath if the anti-gay marriage amendment doesn’t pass.

How much clearer can it be stated? What are we doing messing with the divine institution of marriage? Didn’t we learn anything by what happened to the Lutheran Church in Minneapolis on Aug.19, 2009, when they had just voted to ordain gay clergy on that very day, shortly before that tornado struck there? Perhaps you should go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?+Alkz5euBxI to view the Miracle Tornado and decide for yourself.

Don’t you know that “everywhere marriage has been redefined, religious persecution has followed?” With that in mind, we had better fully consider the consequences before taking action on this matter.

Jeanette Smith

Palisade

Chuck Darrell of Minnesota for Marriage tries to make it seem that gays and lesbians won’t be affected by the anti-gay marriage amendment.

Minnesota law already provides that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Nothing will change if the marriage amendment passes. Our marriage laws will be exactly the same as they are now.

And even with a law that limits marriage to one man and one woman, Minnesota has seen a dramatic rise in the number of gay couples coming to our state.

In other words, despite the fact that same-sex marriage is already prohibited in Minnesota, gays and lesbians are flocking to our state — not leaving it.

Several Strib readers begged to differ.

“Evidence for and against same-sex marriage recently was presented in court regarding California’s Proposition 8,” read one letter to the editor. “The justices of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in their majority opinion, concluded that banning same-sex marriage “served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California.”

Another reader wrote:

Did you know that 90 percent of men who are admitted to emergency rooms with heart attacks are wearing leather shoes? Does this mean that leather shoes cause heart attacks? No, it means that 90 percent of all men wear leather shoes.

Such are the data that Chuck Darrell offers in defense of the anti-gay-marriage amendment. He goes further. He says that it ought to be passed because it really won’t hurt gays very much. Such reasoning is self-defeating and deserves no further comment.

The University of Minnesota-Duluth held a forum on the anti-gay marriage amendment on Monday.

Media rules could thwart disclosure in marriage amendment battle, MinnPost’s David Brauer reports.

Most of Minnesota’s Jewish Rabbis have come out against the anti-gay marriage amendment: “Throughout history the Jewish community has faced discrimination, and therefore we will not stand by while others are targeted.”

Hamline University Prof. David Schultz says that the frequent pushes to amendment the state constitution by Republicans is contrary to Minnesota tradition and contrary to true conservatism.

Red Wing PFLAG is going to bat against the marriage amendment.

A Fargo gay couples plan to attempt to marry in light of a federal court’s decision to strike Prop 8.

Independence party comes out against marriage amendment at the caucuses