Politics & Government

Senate Passes Gay Marriage Proposal; House to Vote Soon

The Minnesota State Legislature is in session.

Editor's note: Capitol Review is a weekly look at what your state legislators are doing at the Minnesota Capitol—how they're voting, the bills they're writing and the issues they're getting behind. Come back to Richfield Patch every Monday for a new Capitol Review.

The Minnesota Senate passed a proposal 38-27 May 11 that would put a consititutional gay marriage ban in front of voters in the 2012 election. 

The Senate debate, which lasted more than three hours, was largely one-sided as DFL lawmakers spoke out against the bill on moral, religious, economic and civil rights grounds. 

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One of the few Republicans to chime in was the bill's author, Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove). He said the amendment was necessary to avoid having "activist judges" make decisions on gay marriage. He urged senators to allow voters to decide the issue.

“We’re conducting this early in the biennium to give our statewide community over a year to address this issue,” Limmer said. “It’s simply to give the voters the opportunity to define marriage as one man, one woman."

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Richfield Patch recently received a Letter to the Editor and the community from residents Philip Lowe, Jr. and Jason King, the couple who pushed for the to be passed in Richfield, speaking out against the proposed amendment. The letter has generated a lot of discussion on the site and Patch encourages all who wish to comment to do so. To see the letter and comment, click .

The House is expected to vote on and pass their version sometime this week. Currently, 31 other states have passed similar amendments to their constitutions.

Richfield Patch is in the process of talking with Richfield legislative representatives to get their reactions and feelings about the proposal.


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