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Minnesota House Passes Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on May 22, 2011.

05/22/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The Republican controlled Minnesota House has tonight voted to have the people of that state decide on the rights of a minority group and vote on the fate of a constitutional amendment would define marriage as only between a man and a woman in 2012.

As demonstrators outside the house chambers chanted, “Just Vote No”, the final vote tonight came down to 70 to 62 in favor of passage, after was nearly six hours of oft times emotional debate.

The bill has already passed the Senate and tonight’s House passage will automatically place the measure on the ballot. Such a measure is not subject to a veto from Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, who strongly opposes the amendment.

The amendment, as approved by both chambers, will now offer a simple yes-or-no question to the states 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?”

Minnesota already has a law on the books banning marriage between two people of the same sex, however, anti-marriage equality groups wanted to make sure that judges or future lawmakers are forever kept from making it legal in Minnesota.

And while the final result was not totally unexpected by anyone, tonight’s vote now sets up what is sure to be a long divisive battle to put discrimination in Minnesota’s Constitution.