gay marriage

House Republicans authorized the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group Wednesday night to continue paying outside counsel to defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act DOMA, which discriminates against legally married same-sex couples.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton told reporters that he wants to include same-sex benefits in the next state employee union contract. The benefits were there under Governor Jesse Ventura but removed when Tim Pawlenty was Governor.

Gov. Mark Dayton said today that he would sign a marriage equality bill if it appeared on his desk. Dayton campaigned against the anti-Marriage amendment.

The campaign to "Vote No" has become the "Yes" to equality for all Minnesotans campaign. They will do the research and polling. They aren't going to foolishly rush into pushing their bill. Marriage equality supporters will pick the best time to get the bills introduced in each House of the legislature.

November 30, 2012 looms large for the American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in it’s fight for equality. The nine justices of the Supreme Court will hold a closed-door conference to select which, if any, of the major LGBT cases they will hear.
The Supreme Court is not required to accept any certain number of the thousands of cases it is asked to review. In fact, during one term, there’s only enough time for the Court to hear 100 or so cases. If they do not accept a case, the decision of the lower court stands and it becomes the final ruling in the case. For instance, if the Supreme Court refuses to hear the lower court’s ruling against Prop 8, then legal same-sex marriage will return to California. The justices also have the option to postpone deciding whether to take a case holding it for consideration at a later conference.

Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) always sets really lofty goals for increasing his turnout. In 2010 it was to prevent the expected drop-off from the insane turnout of 2008 and help the DFL win the Governor's race. This year it was to make sure that the two amendments were defeated. I believe he had a huge impact this year.

When University of Texas professor Mark Regnerus released a study this summer portraying gay parents in a negative light, he insisted that the conservative funders who backed the research had no involvement in how it was designed, implemented, or interpreted.
But recently emerging evidence shows that a scholar affiliated at the time with the Witherspoon Institute — the socially conservative think tank that supplied the bulk of Regnerus’ funding — did indeed play a role carrying out and analyzing the study.

Earlier this month, philosophy professor Stephen Kellert wrote a letter to Hanson asking that the school come out against the same sex-marriage ban. He cited the school's Discrimination Policy, which states that the school "does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation, or veteran status in its education or employment programs or activities."

Michele Bachmann recently endorsed Karen Harrington , who is running for Congress against Debbie Wasserman-Schultz with the following statement: "We need to get the country back on track, I can think of no one better than Karen Harrington to come to Washington, and get the job done."
Ms. Harrington is a known supporter of gay marriage . In April 2011, she was announced as the Vice President of a gay activist group that supports gay marriage. Last year, she attended a gay wedding ceremony. She also marched in the Miami Gay Pride parade.

Party platforms are typically crafted by its activist base, address the standard wedge issues and provide the red meat f