Politics & Government

City Commission Passes Resolutions Against Proposed Constitutional Amendments

The Richfield Human Rights Commission believes the measures discriminate against certain classes of people, denying them equal rights.

The Richfield Human Rights Commission took a stand against the proposed voter photo ID and anti-gay marriage constitutional amendments last week by unanimously passing resolutions opposing the measures.

The mission of the commission is to support equality for all Richfield residents. And, not surprisingly, members adamantly believe the amendments deny people of equal rights.

According to a commission press release, the proposed amendments discriminate against a certain class of people, not only denying equal rights, but also equal freedoms, opportunities, respect, dignity and legal protection.

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Marriage Amendment

The commission gave the following statement on its reasons for opposing the proposed marriage amendment:

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Legislation that would define marriage between one man and one woman would have a direct, negative impact on Minnesota’s LGBT community. In particular, by denying equal protection of the law and relegating families headed by or consisting of same-sex couples to a permanent second-class citizenship status.

Photo Voter ID

The commission gave the following statement on its reasons for opposing the proposed photo voter ID amendment:

Legislation requiring voter’s to provide identification would negatively impact the right to vote for citizens at the polls without qualifying photo ID, voters registering at the polls on Election Day, and those voting by absentee ballot including military and overseas voters.

Copies of the commission's resolutions and formal press release have been attached to this article as PDFs.

The commission meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at .


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