Gay Senator: MN Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Is Hurtful
Senator Scott Dibble, who is gay, talks about how hurtful a proposed Minnesota constitutional amendment is to him and his husband.
Senator Scott Dibble, who is gay, talks about how hurtful a proposed Minnesota constitutional amendment is to him and his husband.
Senator Ron Latz (DFL-Golden Valley/ St. Louis Park) talks about how businesses such as General Mills will have trouble attracting talent to Minnesota if the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment were to pass.
The only people who should be able to vote on a marriage are the two people in the marriage says Senator John Marty. He says his marriage was approved 2-0. Senator Marty is against a Republican proposal to “let the people vote” on the definition of marriage. That definition would forever ban gays from marrying in Minnesota.
Senator Terri Bonoff (DFL-MInnetonka) says her brother gave her permission to talk about him on the Senate floor. He is gay and would suffer harm under the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment that Republicans would like to have Minnesota voters decide on in 2012.
Video by Bill Sorem
Four members of ADAPT Minnesota were briefly detained and removed from the Minnesota Senate gallery around 10:50 a.m. this morning as they shouted “I’d rather go to jail than die in a nursing home!”
Galen Smith, Chris Bell, Nikki Villavicencio-Tollison, and Darrell Paulsen were told they were trespassing, and if they returned to the State Capitol today they would be arrested.
ADAPT Minnesota is a local chapter of a national group of people with disabilities who are fighting for their lives in the community.
A press release from the group says they are demonstrating today because the cuts that the Republican leaders have proposed to Health and Human Services will send us to expensive and unhealthy nursing homes and institutions, keep us from work & community life and cost the state more money
Below: the Minnesota Senate debate that was interrupted:
Text by Mary Turck – Twin Cities Daily Planet
The proposed anti-gay marriage amendment passed the Minnesota Senate May 11 by a vote of 38-27. If passed by the House of Representatives, the question would appear on the November 2012 ballot for decision by voters:
“Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?
The bill does not need to be signed by the governor. If it is passed by both houses, then it will be on the November 2012 ballot. Approval of a constitutional amendment requires the vote of “a majority of all the electors voting at the election,” whether or not the voter casts a “yes” or “no” vote on a proposed amendment.
Below:
Senator Scott Dibble talks about his husband and how hurtful an anti-gay constitutional amendment would be.
You can comment in our anti-gay constitutional amendment live blog
After former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson (moderate Republican) discussed Minnesota Health Care Issues, past and present, on Monday night, two senior DFL legislators were asked about the current legislative situation on health care and what was likely to happen. Senator Linda Berglin, (SD 61) and Representative Erin Murphy (HD 64A) expressed serious concerns about the process that is playing out in the last weeks of the legislative session. Former Governor Carlson argued for a return to civil debate about the issues. He said that until the structural financial problem was solved we were destined to lose ground. Quality of life was the major overriding consideration for many years; it is not a consideration in the current majority’s plan.
Minnesota Republican Senator David Hann addressed reporters today, following Sens. Amy Koch and Geoff Michel’s rebuttal after Governor Mark Dayton’s news conference. Sen. Hann had just returned from Washington, D.C., where he met with members of the state’s delegation to seek a waiver for Medicaid so that Minnesota would no longer have to fund it.
Sen. Linda Berglin (DFL-Minneapolis) issued the following statement today, in response to Hann’s initiative:
“Senator Hann recently arrived back in Minnesota after spending several days in Washington, D.C., meeting with members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation about his plan to eliminate Medicaid benefits for thousands of Minnesotans. It’s telling that Senator Hann never met with the President or anyone from his administration. The bottom line is that Senator Hann needs President Obama’s support to accomplish his goal, and seemingly even he understands he will never get it.
In the meantime, he wasted several days of critical legislative time that could have been spent working out some of the contentious issues in the Health and Human Services budget. Senator Hann should be focused on putting together a balanced budget rather than pursuing a Tea Party pipe dream.
Republicans want to take away Minnesotans’ Medicaid benefits and replace them with an unaffordable voucher. This is a devastating plan for families and the wrong direction for Minnesota.”
Minnesota Republican Senate leaders Amy Koch and Geoff Michel took the unusual step of appearing at Democratic Governor Mark Dayton’s news conference today on the state budget crisis — and standing in the press area. Afterward, Koch and Michel rebutted Dayton’s words at an impromptu press conference in the hallway outside the Governor’s Reception Room in the State Capitol.
Minnesota’s proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment gets what is likely its final Senate hearing before the rules committee. If passed here, it will likely be up for a vote on the Minnesota Senate floor before the end of session on May 23rd.