Last week, a same-sex couples tried to marry in Rochester and the Minnesota Wild suspended a prospective player for an anti-gay slur.

Marriage Amendment

For a sample of what kind of letters to the editor will be produced by anti-gay marriage amendment supporters, here’s this from This Week Live, a newspaper in the southern Metro:

To the editor:

In regard to the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment, the clergy are uniting and coming out in defense of the definition of marriage.

We are teaching and preaching to inform our members as to the long-term effect this decision will have in our culture.

We are not allowing a few to redefine that which has existed long before the state of Minnesota. Marriage is and has always been between one man and one woman.

It would simply be inappropriate to append something so different to that which is already so well defined.

The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment was not created to disrespect any particular community or prevent others from having committed relationships. The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment was created to protect that which has always been defined as a relationship between one man and one woman.

My appeal to our community is that we protect marriage as a vital part of our tradition and our heritage. I also appeal to those on both sides of this issue to respectfully agree to disagree on this matter yet agree to unite and protect those rights that are so near and dear to our forefathers.

The Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment is not intended to be an act of war, rather, it is simply intended to protect, treasure and cherish that which has always been.

Pat Hall
Pastor, True Light Covenant Church, which has its office in Apple Valley

Several Rochester same-sex couples attempted to marry on Valentine’s Day, only to be turned away, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports:

Wherritt and Joanne Ericksen have been together for 24 years, raised three children, have professional careers, volunteer in the community and serve on the Human Rights Commission. Yet because they are a same-sex couple their relationship is not legally recognized in Minnesota.

So on Tuesday they joined Bridget Fritz and Barb Davis, who’ve been together 36 years, and
Joseph Nix and Robert Werner, who’ve been together for 19 years, in applying for marriage licenses at the city/county Government Center.

Rochelle Major wrote to the Mankato Free Press to say:

“All of us gathered in that living room came together to say that the Minnesota we want to live in is a Minnesota that includes, not one that excludes. It’s a Minnesota where we watch out for our neighbors and treat people the way we want to be treated. And a Minnesota where we don’t use the Constitution to take rights away.

I hope your readers will join us in voting “no” on the marriage ban amendment. It’s the Minnesota thing to do.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has officially signed on to oppose the anti-gay marriage amendment as well as any amendment to the constitution that limits rights, Politics in Minnesota Reports:

Late last week, the ACLU board filed papers with the state’s Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board establishing Vote No 2012, a coordinated statewide effort that will look to enlist the group’s more than 8,000 members in defeating amendments ranging from same-sex marriage and right to work to proposals that would restrict tax increases and spending.

“Minnesota’s Constitution should never be amended to serve the political agenda of any one group,” said Leslie Sandberg, chair of the Vote No 2012 Committee. “Vote No 2012 was created fight against any amendment that would place prejudice and discrimination over rights and freedoms in our Constitution.”

Minnesotans United notes that at least some activists in all the major political parties in Minnesota opposed the anti-gay marriage amendment:

At least 5 GOP precincts passed resolutions to strike anti-marriage language from the Republican Party of Minnesota platform, including a variety of precincts in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Burnsville and Olmsted County. Within DFL caucuses, hundreds of resolutions opposing the marriage amendment were passed unanimously statewide, and the Independence Party’s online caucus showed a decisive 80.7% of Independence caucus-goers opposes the constitutional amendment to exclude same-sex couples from marriage.

Are you a straight person for gay marriage? Then there’s a Facebook group for you!

Sports
HRC explains that the Minnesota Wild, our pro hockey team, does not take homophobia lightly:

“The Minnesota Wild suspended prospect Justin Fontaine for two games for sending an anti-gay tweet on Sunday while watching a broadcast of the Grammy Awards.” He called the Foo Fighters the “Foo Faggots.”

Education

3rd Congressional District candidate Sharon Sund penned an It Gets Better video. She’s squaring off against Brian Barnes to take on anti-gay Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen in November.