Governor Mark Dayton

Betty Crocker Bakes Cakes for first 3 Gay Couples to Wed in Minnesota

On August 1st, Minnesota Becomes 12th State to Legalize Same-sex Marriage

Three same-sex couples gathered at Betty Crocker Kitchens at General Mills Headquarters in Golden Valley, Minnesota to taste-test wedding cakes that are being donated for their weddings. Baked with the Betty Crocker formula, these cakes are for the first three couples who will be the first to marry in the 12th state that has legalized gay marriage on August 1.

General Mills Supports Marriage Equality

General Mills, which owns the Betty Crocker brand, is donating cakes as part of the brand’s “The Family Project,” a mission to understand what it means to be a family so we can share the strengths that make every family party of a home.  The website says that families are changing a lot.  But they’re still got one thing in common – the love that makes a home.  At Betty Crocker, we believe that a family is a family, no matter how it’s arranged. “  Crocker includes same-sex couples in its “Home: The State of Family in America.”

The Lucky Couples Who Get Free Wedding Cakes

The first couple to marry are two women who live in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (on August 1, Miinesota’s law will recognize the marriages of gay couples who legally wed in other states).  They are Margaret Miles and Cathy ten Broeke who have a five-year-old son and already had a wedding twelve years ago. They will be married by Mayor R.T. Rybak at City Hall as will Reid Bordson and Paul Nolle.

Mayor Rybak is expected to officiate at the marriage of forty-two same-sex couples. Minnesota estimates that 5,000 gay couples will marry during the law’s first year. Gay weddings are not just taking place in courthouses. One is scheduled at 12:01 a.m. at the Mall of America’s Chapel of Love. The Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul will be the official wedding site of the third couple, Al Giraud and Jeff Isaacson.

Minnesota Was Not Always Ready for Gay Marriage

It was a two year political battle for Minnesota to arrive at same-sex marriage on August 1, 2013. On November 6, 2012, a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage passed by the Legislature.  In 2011, gay marriage was rejected by 52.6% of Minnesota voters. Minnesota became the second state to reject such a ban through popular referendum.

On May 1, 2013, the House of Representative passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage on a vote of 75 to 50. On May 13, 2013, the Senate passed a bill on a vote of 37-30. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill into law on May 14th with the legalization of same-sex marriage taking effect on August 1, 2013 (same day as Rhode Island’s ).

The Times They Are A Changin’

When a gay ban was on the ballot last fall, only a dozen among Minnesota’s eighty-seven counties opposed it.  Most rural counties supported the idea of banning gay marriage by margins of 3-to-2, or even 3-to-1.  They were outvoted by the urban centers statewide.

Now, a June 2013 Star Tribune Minnesota poll found that 46% of Minnesotans support same-sex marriage.

 

 

 

Gay Marriage Bill Passes in Minnesota

State Senate Voted 37 to 30 for Passage After Four Hours of Debate

Minnesota became the 12th State to Legalize Gay Marriage on May 13, 2013.  Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill the following day that allows same-sex couples to marry on August 1st.

Just four days after the House passed the bill on a 75-59 vote, Minnesota became the third state in the past eleven days,after Rhode Island and Delaware, to recognize gay marriage.  In Illinois, a gay marriage bill awaits a House vote after clearing the state Senate.

Minnesota becomes the first state in the Midwest to make gay marriage legal by way of a legislative vote.  Iowa, since 2009, has had same-sex marriage approved by a court ruling.

Minnesota Reverses Itself from November’s Voting

Less than a year ago, voters in Minnesota were weighing a constitutional ban on same-sex unions. Some thirty states have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage that can require a statewide vote to overturn.  Two years ago, Minnesota’s legislature that was controlled by Republicans backed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, defining marriage as strictly between a man and a woman.  The measure failed last fall, with 47% of the vote.  The legislature, controlled by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, with a 39-28 majority, wastold by Democratic Governor Dayton that he would sign a bill legalizing same-sex marriage if lawmakers could pass one.

Those Opposed to the Bill

Most Republicans, except for Branden Petersen of suburban Andover, opposed the legislation.  In the Minnesota House and Senate, votes were allied along party lines. except for three Democrats, all from rural Minnesota who voted against the bill.   Opponents argued that gay marriage threatens religious liberties and contradicts biblical teachings.  They are also afraid that churches, schools, and businesses could be accused of discrimination because they oppose homosexuality.

The issue of gay marriage has pitted Minnesota’s most urban area around the Twin Cities against rural sections of the state which are not as enthusiastically in favor. Hotly contested, the bill considered drew thousands of spectators last Thursday after the House vote.

Next month, the United States Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling that may establish same-sex marriage as a right.

 

 

 

 

 

Minnesota House Approves Marriage Equality Bill, 75-59

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.