The legislature’s been in session for a week, now.
And after running a fierce, lavishly-funded campaign telling Minnesotans that gay people were just like them, and that we “don’t have popularity contests with civil rights”, there is still no bill to undo Minnesota’s gay marriage ban – because Tom Bakk and Paul Thissen are worried about losing a popularity contest over gay rights.
Gays are planning a Valentine’s Day rally…:
They will hold a “Freedom to Marry Day Rally ” on February 14, kicking off what is expected to be a massive effort to rescind the current law banning same-sex marriage and replace it with a law blessing same-sex unions.
The Capitol effort comes after a multi-million dollar campaign last year that successfully turned back a ballot measure that would have constitutionally banned gay marriage in Minnesota.
Opponents say Minnesota may be the first state in the nation to vote against a same-sex marriage ban but that doesn’t mean the state will accept gay marriage.
…but they’re barking up the wrong tree.
Let’s make sure we’re clear on this; from 2006 to 2010, the DFL and its’ supporters whinged that while they controlled the legislature, they didn’t own the governor’s office, so there was no point to passing the legislation, since it’d just get vetoed. Which is a lame excuse; if most people did, in fact, favor gay marriage, the futile vote on principle would redound to the DFL’s benefit in the next election.
But that was then. This is now. The DFL controls both chambers and the governor’s office. There is absolutely no political reason not to push a gay marriage bill – and if there were a political reason, it should be swept aside because, remember, we don’t have popularity contests with civil rights.
Except guns.
But I digress. Gays – why aren’t you demanding the DFL get off its ass?
Because, Mitch, Democrats don’t legislate morality. They appoint judges to do that for them. No point in Democrat legislators sticking their necks out.
The test case is pending in Hennepin County, assigned to Judge DuFresne, Douglas Benson (and others) versus Mark Chapin, court file 27-CV-10-11697. Summary judgment motion was continued to February 22, 2013. Follow it on MNCIS, public view is free.
.
Nothing illustrates Obama’s cynicism more than the way he ignored the gay marriage issue (which would be a huge negative among blacks and Hispanics) until safely re-elected, and now he’s all for it. It matters not that states, not the federal government, regulate marriage. He’s on TV and he’s playing to the base and ignoring the real issues of the day.
The Dims know that 2 years is really a short time. The marriage amendment failed to pass, but that doesn’t mean that gay marriage will be acceptable to a large number of folks. Let the legislature pass the law and put it in front of the medicated one for his signature, then we’ll see how the chips fall in ’14.