Bill Likely Heard by full Senate week of May 13
Will Minnesota become the twelfth state to legalize same-sex marriage? It’s inching closer with the passage of House File 1054 in the Democratic-Controlled House on May 9th. With much debate beforehand, the bill’s sponsor Representative Karen Clark, a Democrat and lesbian, called the vote “ an historic day for same-sex marriage. In Minnesota, we don’t turn our backs on family.”
The Legislation Itself
A major section of the legislation was an amendment that calls for the use of the term “civil marriage” in all instances, regardless of whether the couples are of the same or opposite genders. The amendment also includes a guarantee that religious organizations cannot be fined, punished, or stripped of special status for refusing to marry gay couples.
Representative Tim Kelly had proposed an amendment that would have created civil unions for same-sex couples rather than equal marriage rights, but The House rejected the vote 22-111.
Four Republicans ( Rep. Jenifer Loon, who said “there comes a time when you just have to set politics aside and decide in your gut what is the right thing to do,” Pat Garofalo, David Fitzsimmons and Andrea Kieffer) out of the sixty-one Republicans voted for same-sex marriage and two (Patti Fritz and Mary Sawatzy) out of seventy-three Democrats voted no. The issue was more hotly contested in the more rural districts, far from the Twin Cities. Minnesota voters in November had turned back efforts to ban gay marriage in the Minnesota constitution.
Same-sex marriage is expected to pass in the Senate next week and Governor Mark Dayton, Democrat, has promised that he will sign the bill. With passage, gay marriage could start as soon as August 1.
How the Midwest Fares with Gay Marriage
Iowa has gay marriage decided by the courts in 2009. In Illinois, State House members are considering a same-sex marriage bill already approved in the Democratic-led State House. Presently, Illinois has same-sex civil unions. If this bill is signed, Minnesota would become the first state in the middle of the nation’to make a choice through legislative action, following eastern states Delaware’s and Rhode Island’s actions this month.