Yesterday, I noticed that even some of the brighter leftybloggers are figuring out – or drifting in that direction – that the DFL majority in the Legislature isn’t going to knock itself out to legalize gay marriage.
But there’s another angle to this.
The DFL (or, more accurately, the various non-profits that control the DFL’s entire messaging effort) created an unprecedented turnout against the Marriage Amendment.
The rhetoric was crude, zoomed in on the lowest common informational denominator; “Marriage is about Love!” “Who are we to get in the way of Love between two people?!” “Say no to hate!”
If you are a gay MInnesotan, who no doubt turned out in excess of 100% against the Amendment and for the DFL last month?
If you are one of the mass of Minnesotans who was inveigled into feeling warm fuzzy feelings about same-sex marriage by the parade of celebrities, washed-up ex-Republicans and model TV families?
If you’re one of those libertarians who figured “what can it hurt?” Who believed that the issue was truly about “no hate!”, and who didn’t wanted to be called a “bigot?”
Here’s the deal: if the DFL doesn’t, on the first day of the session, put forth a repeal of Minnesota’s anti-gay-marriage law, and ram it through committee and to the Governor’s desk like Jared Allen chasing down a quarterback, then you were all played for suckers. You and your vote were nothing more than pawns in the DFL’s political power grab. And their inaction will mean that the DFL has no more use for you that for a used condom; you’ll get about the same treatment.
And if you are a DFLer – say, a DFL blogger or tweep – who doesn’t push, relentlessly, for the DFL to get the anti-gay marriage legislation repealed, and a gay marriage law enacted immedately, then you are not only aiding and abetting the DFL’s hypocrisy, but you are hypocrites yourselves.
So what’s it gonna be?
If you’re not complete hypocrites, you should have this done by March.
Of course the DFL is hypocritical on the isssue.
They had complete control of the Legislature in 2008-2010, and didn’t even try. And whinging about “not wasting time, we know it’ll be vetoed” was a cop-out; the GOP passed bills they knew were going to be vetoed, to show the people where they stood on tough issues.
So – will the DFL follow through on this issue? Do they have the electoral cojones?
It’s for love, after all. Don’t be bigots!
The DFL has to fleece the taxpayers first. Priorities, people.
Raise taxes, expand government, bail out Democrat run city pension plans.
I don’t think we are going to hear the word Bipartisan often over the next two years unless Abler gives the Demos a fig leaf once in a while.
I know or am friends with six gay men. Since the election, I have had a chance to talk with all of them. Since they are conservatives, this wasn’t a big surprise, but very telling. I’ve always known that they have been outright pissed off at the more radical wing of the GLBT “bowel movement” as they refer to it, but I learned that they all voted yes. Based on their history with me on political discussions, I have no reason to doubt them. The best reason was counter to one of the more asinine memes of the vote no ads; government doesn’t need to be in our bedrooms and everything that they need to care for their partner, are readily available through the legal system.
The GOP debated social issues and placed a Marriage Amendment on the ballot. The DFL needs to avoid a similar mistake. But I don’t think that was your point.
If the DFL fails to legalize teh gay, it’s EXACTLY the same thing as lynching blacks.
Many voted against the marriage amendment because they felt that such an action did NOT belong in the constitution. As a result, same sex marriage is still in the conversation. Whether it gets changed today, tomorrow, next year, or never – it is still being discussed. Passage of the amendment would effectively have ended that discussion – and that’s exactly what the proponents were wishing for.
To see another example of that same principle as pertains to the 13th amendment of the U.S Constitution, go see the movie Lincoln.
Don’t care. All irrelevant.
If the DFL doesn’t decriminalize gay marriage immediately, they are hypocrites.