Monday, November 12, 2012
A majority of Lake Minnetonka voters supported the Voter ID Amendment, but support for an amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman had trouble capturing majorities.
When it came to a pair of amendments presented to the electorate on Election Day 2012, fewer voters from communities ringing Lake Minnetonka cast straight "Yes-Yes" or "No-No" ballots than those from the more than two dozen Metro area cities Patch covers. Support for the Voter ID Amendment was strongest in Minnetrista, where more than 60 percent of the city's approximate 2,000 voters cast ballots in favor of requiring a photo identification to vote. Support for an amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman was also strongest in Minnetrista, but the measure was still supported by less than 50 percent of voters. Among the Minnesota communities Patch covers, the percentile spread between …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
While proponents were saying the race was still too early to call, the Associated Press called the race shortly before 2 a.m. The vote means the state constitution will not define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
The Minnesota Marriage Amendment has been rejected. The campaign to amend the Minnesota state constitution to limit the definition of marriage to strictly between heterosexual couples was defeated Tuesday by more than 51 percent of a statewide vote. With 92 percent of state precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday that Amendment 1—informally known as the Minnesota Marriage Amendment—had failed: "Vote No" won. Speaking to a cheering crowd of hundreds at St Paul's River Centre, Richard Carlbom, the campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families, told audiences that Minnesota was the first state in the nation to reject a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage at the ballot …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Brad Pitt, Billy Graham weigh in as campaigns shift to getting out the vote.
Brad Pitt and the Rev. Billy Graham don't live anywhere near Minnesota, but in recent days, they both loudly declared their intense interest in the outcome of Tuesday's marriage amendment vote in emails from campaigns on either side of the issue. With less than a week to go until voters go to the polls, both campaigns are coming to the home stretch, turning their focus to getting out the vote and building a small cash reserve to fund any last-minute ads responding to opponents' charges. In an email LGBT rights group The Human Rights Campaign sent to supporters on Wednesday, Pitt challenged voters to match his $100,000 donation to campaigns in four states, including Minnesota, that are trying to defeat state constitutional amendments that…
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Karen Milos says amendment support rooted in fears about loss of religion—and empathetic conversations are the way around that.
- OPINION
- Jay Corn
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Sunday, October 28, 2012
To the editor: For more than a year I and thousands of other Minnesotans have been holding conversations about the marriage amendment. We lay out our most rational arguments, citing research in biological as well as social science demonstrating that same-sex orientation is a benign, natural variation in human sexuality. We offer stories of real people who would be hurt by permanently restricting the definition of marriage to exclude same-sex couples. Many people have been persuaded that voting "no" is the right thing to do. Staunch supporters of the amendment, however, remain unmoved. They are not pondering our rational arguments. They are not empathizing with the hardships and harassment that gay people still endure in many places in our …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Facebook app lets amendment opponents predict votes.
This week, conservatives pushing a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage have been decrying what they say is "intimidation" from their opponents. At issue is a new Facebook app from Minnesotans United for All Families, called "The kNOw Tool." According to a story in CityPages, prominent amendment supporters are taking to social media, saying the tool will let MN United campaign workers bully and badger same-sex marriage opponents. In an interview with Patch, an MN United spokesperson categorically rejected the claims from Minnesota for Marriage spokesperson Andy Parrish and amendment backer state Rep. Mary Franson. The app essentially lets MN United supporters participate in a phone bank from the comfort of their own …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Issue comes before voters in November.
A new set of survey results released Wednesday morning suggests support for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage rests on a knife's edge. The poll, by Public Policy Polling (PPP), said 48 percent of Minnesotans support the amendment and 47 percent oppose it, with less than sixty days to go until the November election. State law already bans same-sex marriage. "In January we found 48/44 support for the ban, while in June we found 49/43 opposition," said a statement from the pollsters, published on PPP's website. "It looks like a toss up." Opinions broke down by age group thus: Women (52/41), Democrats (78/16), and voters under 45 (50/45) all oppose the ban. Men (55/41), Republicans (80/17), independents (51/42), and …
Measure is on the November 2012 ballot.
Update 12:45 p.m. 9-12-12: A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows support for the amendment at 48 percent and opposition against it at 47 percent. With a new poll suggesting a same-sex marriage ban could pass this November, supporters of a proposed state constitutional amendment doing just that may have walked around with an extra spring in their step on Tuesday. Current state law already bans same-sex marriage. According to the KSTP/SurveyUSA Poll, support for the measure sits at about 50 percent, and opposition against the amendment at about 43 percent. The remaining eight percent or so are undecided, the station said. The station also broke down poll results by geography: The amendment is favored in all regions of the state, with …
Friday, August 31, 2012
Minnesotans United for All Families and Minnesota For Marriage are both jockeying for attention on Cooper Street at the Minnesota State Fair.
Foreshadowing what could be a close vote this November, the main groups rallying for and against a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota are within shouting distance at the State Fair. Minnesotans United for All Families, which opposes the amendment, and Minnesota for Marriage, which supports it, are both jockeying for hearts and minds with booths on Cooper Street between Wright and Dan Patch avenues. Casey Warren, of Bloomington, said on Wednesday that she came out to support the amendment because of her 47-year marriage and six children. She worries what effect gay marriage will have on generations to come. “To me it’s about the children. If you allow the children to be part of same sex parents, they’re …
Monday, July 16, 2012
Thomson Reuters and General Mills are among the Minnesota companies taking a stand against the Minnesota marriage amendment. What do you think?
Should businesses stay out of politics, or should they feel perfectly comfortable taking stands on controversial issues? That's the question a lot of Minnesotans are debating in the wake of last week's decision by Thomson Reuters, which operates a large legal-publishing division in Eagan, to oppose the constitutional marriage amendment on this fall's Minnesota ballot. Thomson Reuters isn't the first company to take such a step. A similar annoucement by General Mills prompted talk of a boycott against the famed Golden Valley food company, as well as expressions of support from amendment opponents. Aside from debate over the amendment itself, there's the question of whether companies such as Thomson or General Mills have any business …
Donald Lee
6:31 pm on Sunday, March 17, 2013
The left has its own stereotypes that it uses to justify its agenda, equally untrue. more ›