Tag Archives: Minnesota

Minnesota Becomes 12th US State with Equal Marriage Laws

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Minnesota becomes the 12th state in the US to adopt marriage equality into law today, just six months after voters defeated a constitutional amendment to define marriage heterosexually. In both campaigns, Catholic advocates and opponents played a central role in shaping the marriage equality conversation.

After a successful House vote last week, the Senate voted 37-30 yesterday to pass the bill. Legislators now send the bill to Governor Mark Dayton who is expected to sign it this afternoon. The New York Times reports on the victory, and turnaround, in Minnesota:

“In a way, Monday’s vote was a startling shift in the conversation in this state. For much of 2012, Minnesotans had been debating an amendment to the state Constitution that would have done the opposite — define marriage as between a man and a woman…Minnesotans in November rejected the amendment and sent majorities of Democrats to both chambers of the State Legislature, setting off an intense new push to legalize same-sex marriage.

“‘That whole constitutional amendment backfired on them,’ Amy Britain, 46, said Monday…She said it proved that Minnesotans, like many Americans, had changed their views on marriage.”

via Bondings 2.0.

There is huge poetic justice in this Minnesota decision. Not content with a state law that prohibited gay marriage, the Republicans who controlled the state legislature, with Catholic bishops acting as cheerleaders and financial backers, insisted on attempting to write discrimination into the state confusion, sowing immense hurt and division along the way – including between state Catholic communities.

This will have been part of the mood that led to the Repubs losing control of the state legislatures in November, while the success of the long hard slog over several years to resist the constitutional ban, will have given supporters of equality and inclusion the confidence to proceed with the current legislation.

Now that equality is well on the way, I see that a GOP legislator was in tears, insisting that she’s upset at the “divisions” this has caused. Can she not see that it was her own caucus that began to divide the people of Minnesota in the first place? (No need to answer).

But to balance the crocodile tears of Republicans lamenting the “divisions” that this legislation has allegedly caused, there have also been more appropriate, copious tears of joy at the end of divisions and inequality in marriage law. And since the passage in the House described by Bob Shine, the Senate has done it’s bit too. All that is still required is the governor’s signature, which is due to be in place later this afternoon.

Congratulations Minnesota

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Minnesota Rep Fights Back Tears During Gay Marriage Debate

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HOPKINS, MN — Hopkins and St. Louis Park Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-District 46B) choked back tears as he told a parable during debate Thursday on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Simon described a rabbi asking his students what is the precise moment when night ends and a new day begins.

“The moment when night ends and a new day begins is the moment when you look into the face of a stranger and see the face of your brother,” Simon said in between long pauses. “Until that moment, no matter what time it is, it’s still night. But at that moment, that’s when the new day begins. I like the sound of that—a new day—and I hope we can all go there together.”

In the often-emotional five-minute speech, Simon described how the gay rights movement began as something separate from the rest of the society. But he argued that the current debate reflects how the homosexual community is urgently seeking to be a part of society’s most-cherished institutions.

“I don’t think we should scorn that. We should embrace it. We should embrace their embrace,” Simon said. “I think slowly as a society we’re going to the realization—some faster than others—those in the GLBT community do not have some condition to be pitied or prayed away. What they have is a God-given orientation, which should be celebrated and welcomed.”

The bill passed 75-59.

via – Hopkins, MN Patch.

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Minnesota Catholics Still Split by Vote on Gay Marriage

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More than a month after Minnesota became the first state to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, some Catholics say it’s time to acknowledge how divisive that effort was within the church.

Among them is Kathleen Nuccio, a cantor and choir member for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.

Nuccio sings during Mass each Sunday, as she has done for half a century. But when it came to her opposition to the marriage amendment, she couldn’t make her voice heard.

“There was no dialogue,” she said. “The only way people had to express themselves … (was) by withdrawing donations, walking out of sermons — which happened — and leaving the church altogether. Many people still have not returned.”

Catholic bishops put significant financial and spiritual resources behind the amendment, which would have defined marriage as being only between a man and a woman, reinforcing a provision against same-sex marriage in state law. The church’s official position alienated some parishioners and may have contributed to the amendment’s defeat in November.

There is no exit-poll data on how Catholics in Minnesota voted on the amendment. Although the Associated Press asked voters if they attended religious services and if they were evangelicals, it did not ask if they were Catholic. National polls find Catholics are among churchgoers most supportive of same-sex marriage.

-more at  Winona Daily News

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Golden Rule Dominates Minnesota’s Gay Marriage Debate

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ST. PAUL — It’s a story 2,000 years old: People read the same words in the Bible, but come up with different conclusions.

Chaplain Mark Papke-Larson and Reverend Steve Schmidt of St, Bartholomew’s Church in Bemidji participate in a round table discuss on same sex couples marrying during a VOTE NO Rally as they listen to Marilyn Heltzer.

That is center to a debate about amending the Minnesota Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The bottom-line difference is about whether religious doctrine allows gays to marry.

To the Rev. Jeff Evans, there is no doubt the amendment follows God’s wishes. It is, he said, an issue “the Gospels are very, very clear on.”

Those who oppose the amendment, Evans said, are just following parts of the Bible with which they agree. “If you cut and paste … then you can come up with anything.”

The Rev. Grant Stevensen, who opposes the amendment, reads the Bible differently.

For Stevensen and others campaigning against the amendment, the Golden Rule says: “Treat other people as we would like to be treated.”

“I am concerned about the state of Minnesota drawing lines between people,” Stevensen added, something he sees as violating the Bible’s Golden Rule.

Involvement extensive

Evans and Stevenson coordinate religious activities for the two amendment campaigns, with what probably is the most extensive religious involvement of any state that has debated a marriage definition thus far.

The 30 states that have debated a constitutional amendment similar to the one Minnesotans will decide in the Nov. 6 election all passed it. However, amendment opponents say that in other states, faith communities that opposed the amendments did not have time to mount resistance like they are in Minnesota.

Most of the state’s conservative evangelical churches side with the Catholic Church, the state’s largest denomination, in favor of the amendment. Evans is pastor for the evangelical Christ Church Twin Cities in Minnetonka.

Amendment opponents include most of the second-largest denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Jewish synagogues that have taken stands on the issue. Stevensen is pastor at St. Matthew’s, an ELCA church in St. Paul.

– full report at  Grand Forks Herald 

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Thomson Reuters: Gay Marriage Ban Bad For Business

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The legal, business information and media company Thomson Reuters said Friday that an amendment to ban gay marriage in Minnesota would be bad for business.

Prominent companies including General Mills and St. Jude Medical spoke out earlier against the proposed amendment, which goes to the voters in November. Minnesota already has a law against gay marriage, but gay marriage opponents say the amendment is necessary to put the ban in the state constitution.

In a statement, Thomson Reuters said it doesn’t believe the amendment “would be good for Thomson Reuters or the business community in the state.”

Spokesman John Shaughnessy said Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York City, has almost 8,000 employees in Minnesota, most based in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan, and 60,000 around the world. “We believe the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, if passed, would limit our ability to recruit and retain top talent,” several Minnesota-based company executives wrote in an email to employees.

The company, which includes Reuters news agency, tried to clarify why it was weighing in on the issue, saying its statement was not a political or religious position. “Rather, our perspective on the Amendment is a business position,” the email said.

Minnesotans United for All Families, the group working to defeat the amendment, hailed the company’s decision.

“More and more, companies in Minnesota are standing up and saying that this hurtful amendment is not in the best interests of businesses, families or the state of Minnesota,” Richard Carlbom, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.

via Huffington Post.

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Fired Minnesota Catholic School Teacher Calls for Dialogue on Marriage Equality

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A 46-year old Catholic school teacher in Moorehead, Minnesota, has lost her job because of her personal conviction in favor of marriage equality.

Trish Cameron

Trish Cameron, who taught at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, says she is now praying for a healthier dialogue in the church on the issue of marriage.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reports:

“After 11 years teaching fifth graders at St. Joseph’s Catholic school in Moorhead, the same-sex marriage issue was on Cameron’s mind as she filled out her annual self-evaluation form this spring.

“Part of the evaluation asked teachers to rate how well they support the teachings of the church. In the comment box, Cameron wrote, ‘I do not agree with all church teachings on a personal level, but I do not bring my own opinions into religion classes.’

“That comment led to a meeting with her principal and superintendent where she explained her break with the church on the issue of same-sex marriage. One week later, they asked her to resign.

” ‘I don’t think there was any hiding my feelings, but along the way at the moments of dialogue was I thinking, “gee I’m jeopardizing my employment?” No,’ she said. ‘That never crossed my mind.’ “

-more at  Bondings/New Ways Ministry

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Archbishop John Nienstedt crusades against gay marriage

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But increasingly, his flock of Minnesota Catholics isn’t following

“The greatest threats to marriage are the economy, joblessness, alcoholism, drug abuse — there are a lot of threats to marriage, but it has very little to do with homosexuals having a committed relationship,” says (Father Mike) Tegeder, who’s also a pastor at the Church of Gichitwaa Kateri. “I know committed same-sex people who are doing God’s work.”

Tegeder knows what the Bible dictates on homosexuality — along with what it dictates about shellfish, and mixed-cloth clothing, and all those other Bronze Age concerns. And he knows there’s no single person responsible for the shame his church lifts from these passages.

But there is one person who could single-handedly end it all in the Twin Cities: His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis John C. Nienstedt.

“Nienstedt is just so rigid about these things,” Tegeder continues, growing animated. “But, you know — just let go of it. What are we trying to defend? Marriage? Has the Catholic Church protected marriage? I mean, [Nienstedt] has a priest who impregnated one of his staff members, broke up their marriage, and the guy’s still functioning! … Why don’t we take care of our own issues before we start imposing views onto other people who don’t have the same religious beliefs?”

(Excerpted from a 5 – page analysis at City Pages.  For a more extensive selection of excerpts, with some annotation by Michael Bayly, who is one of the prominent Catholic opponents of the amendment featured in the report, see Bayly’s post at The Wild Reed )

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Local Churches Front And Center In Gay Marriage Movie

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It’s one of the most shopworn cliches of the gay rights movement—the angry religious leader, usually Christian, denoucing LGBT people as “perverts” or a danger to the stability of society.

Even in Minnesota, that trope has continued to play itself out with the state’s Catholic bishops helping lead the charge to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The state already has a similar law on the books, but the amendment would make it hard for a future legislature to reverse it or for a court to find the law unconstitutional.

One local filmmaker, though, wants to change that.

“The religious right owns faith when it comes to issues like this,” Matt Peiken  told Patch. “There’s an imbalance here that I wanted to correct.”

–SW Minneapolis Patch

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General Mills against gay marriage ban

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General Mills is taking a stand against a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, becoming the most prominent corporate voice making such a public declaration.

Chief executive Ken Powell voiced the company’s opposition Wednesday at a General Mills function attended by 400 gay and lesbian professionals, followed Thursday by a Web letter from the company’s vice president for global diversity and inclusion, Ken Charles.

“We do not believe the proposed constitutional amendment is in the best interests of our employees or our state economy,” Charles wrote. “We value diversity. We value inclusion.”

Taking a corporate position on such a politically charged issue as gay marriage is a risky move for a big company like Golden Valley-based General Mills, with such well known brands as Cheerios and Yoplait.

Yet companies nationwide are increasingly taking pro-gay marriage stances and going public on other political issues, marketing and public relations experts say.

Heather LaMarre, a professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism, said that historically companies have followed a “don’t-speak-unless-you-have-to” strategy when it comes to controversial political issues. “But we’re in a new public relations mode.”

General Mills is the second major Minnesota-based company to come out against the amendment, which will be on the November ballot. Medical device maker St. Jude Medical first expressed opposition, as have Carlson Chairwoman Marilyn Carlson Nelson, former Medtronic CEO Bill George and longtime Minneapolis businessman and politician Wheelock Whitney.

via StarTribune.com.

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Gay marriage vote divides Minnesota clergy

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Members of Minnesota’s clergy are increasingly taking sides on the push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, a political battle that’s pitting certain denominations against others and, in some cases, splitting believers from the same faith.

This Sunday, a group of Catholic churchgoers opposed to the amendment are kicking off the “Catholics Vote NO!” campaign, flying in the face of the church’s local hierarchy, which supports the measure.

It’s just the latest in a lengthy list of recent organizing efforts by the faithful — from a recent “pastor’s summit” of church leaders who support a ban to a gathering this past week of more than 100 Christian and Jewish ministers opposed to it.

Among the latter was the Rev. Kelly Chatman, lead pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. He took a public stand against the amendment, he said Friday, “because I don’t want that other voice to be the only voice, I don’t want same-sex people to see all churches that way.

-full report at sctimes

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