Claims that LGBT community harassed same-sex marriage opponents not supported by courts

The Minnesota for Marriage coalition, a group that is is urging voters to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, has told the media and the Minnesota campaign finance board that if they have to disclose their donors, they will be subject to violence by supporters of marriage equality. But a string of court cases across the country have shed serious doubt on those claims, with ...

Minnesota Independent • Nov 15, 2011

Polling on marriage amendment fluctuates wildly a year from vote

Four polls have been released this week showing different results among Minnesota's electorate a year before the the 2012 vote on the controversial amendment to add a ban on same-sex marriage to the state constitution. Two polls show that the amendment might get defeated while two others show a slight lead for anti-gay marriage activists....

Minnesota Independent • Nov 11, 2011

Bachmann, Kline send letter to Senate to block gay soldiers from using military facilities

Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline were among the signers of a letter to the U.S. Senate urging that body to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit gay members of America's Armed Forces from using military facilities for marriage ceremonies. ...

Minnesota Independent • Nov 3, 2011

Group named after gay soldier killed in Aghanistan aims to defeat marriage amendment

A new group called Andrew's Round Table, which is named for Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, a gay soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in February, has launched to educate Minnesotans about equal marriage rights for same-sex couples....

Minnesota Independent • Oct 21, 2011

Minnesota for Marriage hires NOM's Christopher Plante

The National Organization for Marriage, a Washington, D.C.-based group that opposes rights for same-sex couples, has hired Christopher Plante to run its Minnesota operations in the run-up to a 2012 vote that would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota's constitution. Plante is the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island. Plante opposes marriage rights for same-sex co...

Minnesota Independent • Sep 8, 2011

NOM spent $709,000 in Minnesota on 2010 marriage ads

Findings by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board show that the National Organization for Marriage spent $709,000 on radio and television ads during the gubernatorial campaign in 2010. Those ads targeted DFLer Mark Dayton and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner for their support for marriage equality and lent support for the campaign of Republican Tom Emmer who supported a...

Minnesota Independent • Aug 18, 2011

AFL-CIO votes unanimously to oppose anti-gay marriage amendment

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state's labor federation, voted on Monday to oppose a ballot measure that would add a ban on same-sex marriage to the Minnesota Constitution. The vote of the general board was unanimous in oppositon to the amendment which will be on the ballot in 2012. The AFL-CIO is made up of 1,000 affiliated local unions and represents more than 300,000 workers....

Minnesota Independent • Aug 10, 2011

Human Rights Campaign forms PAC to fight anti-gay marriage amendment

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT advocacy group, registered a political action committee (PAC) with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on Monday with the purpose of defeating a ballot measure that would place a ban on same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. The PAC joins three others working to defeat the amendment. Currently, only one ballot ca...

Minnesota Independent • Aug 3, 2011

Campaign board rejects NOM's efforts to shield donors in gay marriage battle

Common Cause Minnesota, the League of Women Voters and the Brennen Center for Justice sent a letter to the board on Thursday morning criticizing the statements of NOM and MFC and urging the board to make the ballot process more transparent. "Much like the boy who cries 'wolf,' it has become routine for groups like the National Organization for Marriage to complain that disclosure will leave them ...

Minnesota Independent • Jul 4, 2011

Backers of anti-gay marriage amendment tout flawed poll

Minnesota for Marriage is touting a poll released last week by the religious right group, Alliance Defense Fund, that showed a majority of Americans believe that marriage should be defined as between one man and one women. That poll, which found 62 percent of Americans back that definition, was conducted by Republican pollster Public Opinion Strategies and has been criticized for its odd sampling ...

Minnesota Independent • Jun 24, 2011

At shareholder meeting, Target stays neutral on gay marriage ban

"Our position at this particular time is that we are going to be neutral on that particular issue, as we would be on other social issues that have polarizing points of view," CEO Gregg Steinhafel told shareholders. "We're a retail store, we welcome everybody," he added. "We have a broad team-member base, every shape and size and color. And so we are a very inclusive organization... We're going to ...

Minnesota Independent • Jun 13, 2011

Archbishop Nienstedt: Gay marriage ban is not anti-gay

Archbishop John Nienstedt penned a column on Thursday defending the Catholic Church's decision to lobby for an amendment that would add a ban on same-sex marriage to the Minnesota Constitution. He said the amendment is not "anti-gay, mean-spirited and prejudicial." Later in the column he endorses the words of his fellow Catholic, the Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who says if same-sex marri...

Minnesota Independent • Jun 13, 2011

Dayton vetoes anti-gay marriage amendment in symbolic gesture

On Wednesday morning, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a proposed amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. The veto is only symbolic -- the Minnesota governor has no authority over constitutional amendments. In his veto message Dayton called the amendment "divisive and destructive" and urged Minnesotans to vote against it in 2012. Dayton told reporters at a press conference...

Minnesota Independent • May 28, 2011

Several legislators who want to 'protect marriage' are divorced, records indicate

In testimony before Minnesota Senate and House committees last week, religious leaders and representatives from religious right organizations cited single-parent families and a skyrocketing divorce rate as reasons to protect marriage from being redefined to include same-sex couples by "activist judges" and "handfuls of legislators." And GOP members rebuffed efforts by DFLers to include a ban on di...

Minnesota Independent • May 19, 2011

Minnesota: DFLers offer bill to repeal state Defense of Marriage Act

Minnesota Democrats introduced a bill on Monday that would repeal the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex couples from benefiting from the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The bill, the Marriage and Family Protection Act, was offered just as heated debate at the Capitol continues over a proposed constitutional amendment that would write a ban on gay marriage into the ...

Minnesota Independent • May 17, 2011

'Minnesota malicious': Papers statewide pan GOP anti-gay marriage effort

Newspapers throughout the state have come out against a Republican bill that proposes a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage in Minnesota. The geographic breadth of opposition to the amendment, from the larger Winona, Duluth and Minneapolis to the southern Minnesota farming communities of Albert Lea, New Ulm, Fairmont and tiny Grant County in Western Minnesota suggests it may be a li...

Minnesota Independent • May 15, 2011

Gay marriage hits close to home, but Minnesotans not ready

While Minnesotans may say they're not ready to extend full equality to same-sex couples, subtle changes abound as gay Minnesotans travel to Iowa to marry and Lutherans look to relax restrictions on churches that want to be inclusive. And while the religious right is working hard to convince Minnesotans that a proposed Constitutional amendment is needed, a new Star Tribune poll shows support for t...

Minnesota Independent • May 6, 2009

Maine becomes fifth state to recognize same-sex marriage

Maine Governor John E. Baldacci signed into law on Wednesday a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage in that state. Maine will become the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage, along with Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. It's the second to do so through a legislative effort as opposed to the courts. "In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions," ...

Minnesota Independent • May 6, 2009

Minnesota's gay Republican will not vote for marriage equality bill

"I think some of the gay activists will be upset with me for this, but sometimes I think an agenda is pushed so far and so fast that people have no alternative but to push back," Koering told Raw Story at the time. "And I think that sometimes you have to move slowly."...

Minnesota Independent • Feb 17, 2009

Same-sex couples set to sue Minnesota over marriage rights

As many as 10 same-sex couples plan to file a lawsuit soon against the state of Minnesota for the right to marry. It's a controversial move, one that some in the gay and lesbian community think is ill-timed, but those couples who are putting their money on the line -- and their lives under a microscope -- say the time is always right to fight for equality....

Minnesota Independent • Jan 15, 2009