E-DEMOCRACY | Government love licenses?

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From: Gail O’Hare Date: 00:53

I’ve received a hysterical message from Minnesota for Marriage all in a tizzy about a gay marriage bill coming to the floor soon. They want me to tell my legislators not to vote for it. They call it a “system of government love licenses,” presumably meaning heterosexual marriage does not involve any messy love stuff.

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DFL legislators do indeed have a mandate

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The first session of the new legislature with DFL majorities opens tomorrow [Tues, 1/8]. Anyone following the coverage and commentary sees the media and DFL legislators fretting about being accused of overreach if they do what they were elected to do. My choice of the word “fretting” might imply I don’t take those concerns seriously, and, well, that’s mostly right. Too many have it in their heads that the reason the GOP majorities were so short-lived was that they overreached. “Overreached” implies that the voters liked the GOP agenda, but just wanted a bit less of it. However, the GOP agenda was pretty thoroughly rejected — there’s no other way to read it when it lasts just two years and the voters could have blamed the DFL governor, but chose instead to give him a friendly legislature. That message wasn’t, “You overreached.” It was, “Please go away.” Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Why VOTE NO won for marriage

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Professor of Religion David Booth (St. Olaf College) provides a knowledgeable, academic and positive perspective on the defeat of the proposed MN Constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as a legal relationship only between a woman and a man.  Dr. Booth explains why the VOTE NO initiative succeeded as the best fit for Minnesota.This 20 minute video is an extended version of Dr. Booth’s discussion on the current edition of Democratic Visions. Dr. Booth originally commented on the failure of the proposed marriage amendment in the November 26th edition of MinnPost in an article entitled: “What happened here? Three observations about Minnesota’s marriage vote.”   I produce and edit Democratic Visions with the help of other volunteers through DFL Senate District 48 which includes Eden Prairie and the south half of Minnetonka.Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. Continue Reading

Now what? Legalizing same-sex marriage in Minnesota

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The Marriage amendment was defeated and Democrats took control of both houses of the Minnesota legislature and also control all the executive branch constitutional offices. Advocates of same-sex marriage say the time is now and that the DFL should not simply repeal the Minnesota Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) but move directly to legalize same-sex marriage. Should that be at the top of DFL agenda come January? Reasons bode in favor and against this choice. Continue Reading