It's a Step

Senate panel defeats gay marriage amendment 5-4
Ashley Grant, Associated Press
March 27, 2004

Behind velvet ropes, guards and locked doors, a Senate committee voted 5-4 along party lines Friday to reject a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

"I didn't hear a single person tell me a single way Jeff and Jack's wedding is going to affect their marriage or anyone else's marriage," DFL Sen. John Marty said before voting against the bill.

The bill would put a question on the November ballot, asking voters to decide whether the Minnesota Constitution should be amended to read: "Only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota. Any other relationship shall not be recognized as a marriage or its legal equivalent."

Although the legislation passed earlier in the GOP-led House, its defeat was expected in the DFL-controlled Senate.

Directly after voting down that amendment, however, the committee approved an alternative offered by Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley. It would allow voters to instead decide if the constitution should be amended to prohibit the judicial branch from having jurisdiction over defining marriage - that only the Legislature has that power.
"If you want to curb judicial activism, my bill squarely says that," Betzold said.
That amendment was approved 5-4, with one Republican and one Democrat crossing party lines in their votes. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which will decide its fate.
Despite the defeat of her own bill, Sen. Michele Bachmann was pleased Betzold's amendment passed.
"The issue remains alive," said Bachmann, R-Stillwater.

She said it would be difficult for her to support Betzold's bill because it doesn't define marriage and she fears it could make the issue a political football at the Legislature. But if that bill makes it to the floor, she could try to amend her legislation to it.

Betzold said he's not entirely comfortable with his own bill, but offered it as an alternative in hopes that as long as something was still alive, Bachmann wouldn't offer her bill as an amendment to every other bill that made it to the floor.
"If this bill had died today, that wouldn't have ended the issue,'' Betzold said.

Tensions have run high this week with rallies drawing more than 3,000 people to the Capitol from each side of the issue.
On Friday, hundreds gathered again for the Senate hearing. Tickets were issued beforehand to 45 people on each side of the issue to sit in the committee room. Others gathered elsewhere in the Capitol to watch the hearing on television.

Minnesota law already requires marriages to be between members of the opposite sex and prevents the state from recognizing same-sex unions granted by other states. Thirty-nine states have passed similar legislation. Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska and Nevada voters have approved constitutional amendments.

Proponents of the constitutional amendment say the change is needed to ensure judges here don't interpret the law as did the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which ruled that gay marriage must be allowed.

Laws can be easily changed from year to year, but amending the constitution is a much more difficult process, requiring the direct approval of voters.

The Rev. Bob Battle, who served as head of the St. Paul Human Rights Department for nine years, supported Bachmann's bill, saying he wasn't motivated by politics or hatred, but rather a strong belief in the Bible.

"It has everything to do with moral choice," he said.

Jack Thompson, who has been in a committed gay relationship for nearly two decades, said the constitution shouldn't be used to divide, exclude and marginalize.

"I'm not here to ask you to vote in favor of gay marriage," he said. "I am here to convince you that basic human dignity is not a proper ballot question."

Bachmann said it was still "entirely possible" that her bill would pass this session.
"Absolutely it will take a miracle," she said. "But I believe in miracles."

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Ashley Grant may be reached at agrant(at)ap.org