Marriage Equality In Minnesota's Future

Duane was able to join me after work, last evening at the Capitol for some blogging of the joint session or joint convention as it is sometimes referred to. He held the "MAKE MY FAMILY LEGAL" minicurtain while I held the "LET ME MARRY MY PARTNER OF 16 YEARS" curtain. It was neat to actually have my partner of 16 years there with me.

Rep. Tina Liebling stopped to greet us before she went into the House Chamber and say that she didn't think anything would be done on "this, (pointing to the shower curtain) this session." I hadn't met her before and didn't realize she was a Rep. until she introduced herself and I recognized her name. I think her comment is very interesting. It says that their doing something on "this," meaning marriage equality, MAY not be in the cards this session, but it suggests that their ultimate intention is to implement marriage equality. Let's all let these legislators know that that is exactly what we want.

Medical Marijuana Eats Republicans

As I was protesting in front of the House today, a woman came up who seemed supportive but eventually stated that same-sex couples can have all the same provisions of legal marriage if they just get all the legal paperwork done. I explained otherwise, and then she had to leave, saying how great is was that we could disagree. Yes yes, isn't disagreement grand.

A man who actually was supportive came up later and we had quite a long talk about the state of marriage equality. He accepted a Marriage Equality sticker and put it on.

While in front of the Senate, I spoke with a lobbyist for the medical industry about the Medical Marijuana bill. We were laughing about how it's splitting the Republicans since half of them support it and half don't and they're just kind of eating each other. Also, some Republican legislators who support Medical Marijuana are publicly dissing the Minnesota Family Council and complaining about the "religious" wing of the party pushing them around. Oh the hilarity.

Any Honest Person Has To Answer None

There's a question that should be asked every time someone from the Minnesota Family Council or similar group makes a statement against marriage equality. And that question is this: What possible difference could it make to these people if two men went down to the courthouse and got a piece of paper with their names on it? I mean, what practical effect would this have on their lives? Any honest person has to answer, none. Then, that being the case, what business do they have making a fuss about it?