Legislative Update: 9/10/04

The 2004 Elections and the Unprecedented Action for GLBT Rights That Stopped Minnesota's Anti-Marriage
Constitutional Amendment

The stakes remain high in this year's elections – register, and VOTE! on November 2nd.
 

Thanks to the combined efforts of the 15,000 Minnesotans who signed petitions calling on Gov. Tim Pawlenty to abandon anti-gay rhetoric and posturing, the over 4,000 individuals who took part in OutFront Minnesota's annual GLBT Lobby Day at the State Capitol in March, the efforts of countless more who contacted their elected officials in St. Paul, and the hard work of committed legislative leaders, we managed to avoid the bullet that had been fired directly at the GLBT community this legislative session: a proposed state constitutional amendment to outlaw legal recognition of same-sex couples and their families.

This time...

As the November elections approach, the amount of attention paid to the issue of marriage equality will only increase. Courts in Washington and Oregon have ruled that those states' constitutions require legal recognition of same-sex couples; the battle continues in Massachusetts over the legality of out-of-state marriages; a new marriage lawsuit has been filed in Connecticut, which joins the other legal challenges already underway in New York, New Jersey, California, and elsewhere. On the flip side, voters in several states will face ballot initiatives this fall to amend their constitutions to forbid marriage equality. It is likely that no matter what happens in courts and at the ballot boxes, supporters of the misguided effort to write Minnesota's harmful marriage restrictions into our constitution will be emboldened to try, try again. We need to be prepared.

In 2005, we will lobby, we will educate, and we will speak out. But our preparations for 2005 will begin in 2004, when millions of Minnesotans will head to the polls in November. The entire Minnesota House of Representatives will be up for election – an opportunity for the GLBT community and its allies to join with others across the state to send fair-minded Representatives to St. Paul--people who will address the real needs of the people of Minnesota, not pander to fears by fanning the flames of prejudice. Our community will not forget that the House voted in favor of Minnesota's Anti-Marriage Amendment; rescinded domestic-partner benefits for State workers, even preventing them from using sick and bereavement leave to attend to ill partners or even to go to their funerals; and attempted to repeal every mention of "sexual orientation" from Minnesota law. Nor will we forget those who stood with us in the face of such bigotry. Find out how your legislators voted on GLBT issues.

Be sure to check back in our Action Center regularly for news, updates, and useful voter resources.  And don't forget to vote!

One of the easiest ways to keep informed about events in Minnesota is by joining the Citizen Q Network, our statewide, e-mail activist network.

OutFront Minnesota is a non-partisan organization serving the GLBT and allied communities of Minnesota. All services including voter guides, voter information, and voter registration are made available without regard to a voter's political preference or on the basis of support or opposition to a particular candidate.