I hate to disagree with Senate leadership right off the bat but I think Senator Bakk is making a mistake by not putting the repeal of the Minnesota DOMA law on the immediate agenda.
The amendment fight was a hard one. People in the VOTE NO campaign invested a lot....time, money, their heart and soul.
The vote on the amendment had MORE votes than in the Presidential election....Yes — MORE votes. That is unheard of... unprecedented. After all that blood, sweat and tears, the DFL Senate is telling them, you are back to square one.
Here are my reasons for putting same-sex marriage up for a legislative vote...
1) The VOTE NO campaign deserves their day. I am not sure that the DFL would be sitting on majorities right now without the ground swell of support against the amendment and the enormous participation in the campaign. Granted, some districts that supported the amendment also sent Democratic legislators and they will have to make tough decisions, but an up or down vote is deserved.
2) I can't imagine that the majority of the electorate doesn't assume there will be a vote on this. To sit on an illegal status quo will be a surprise to many who did not understand the full ramifications of what that vote meant.
3) Democrats need to solidify a constituency with the youth vote. They came out in force. To disappoint them now might turn all of this into a bad memory. If its politics as usual, cynicism may rule the day again.
4) The timing is now...as soon as possible. If same-sex marriage is legalized, people will have two years to see that it is not something diabolical and that it will not have negative effects on traditional culture.
DFLers are a cautious bunch. Sometimes I believe they think too much. But this is good policy. Fair policy. It needs to happen.
This post was written David Mindeman and originally published on mnpACT! Progressive Political Blog. Follow Dave on Twitter: @newtbuster.
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