Minnesota Marriage Amendment

In early March, I blogged about how Reverend Oliver White is facing an uphill battle to keep his church open after taking a supportive stand on same-sex marriage. Three months later and White is about to lose the church because the funds coming in aren’t enough to cover the cost of a loan that is due June 30.

Now, White has taken to the internet asking supporters to donate to the cause. According to the above article, the efforts to date have raised about 10% of the needed funds. Here’s hoping that added publicity helps Grace Community United Church of Christ make significant progress toward their goal.

I’ve posted some polling numbers the past couple days and talked a little bit about some of the conflicting data. An ABC News story published yesterday, entitled, “Polls on Gay Marriage Not Yet Reflected in Votes” digs into the issue a little deeper. The article asks the question that if the majority of Americans now support gay marriage, why have 32 states amended their constitutions so that it would not be allowed.

Even in California, where polling numbers showed Prop 8 would “lose decisively,” voters ended up passing the measure with a 52-48 margin. If you look here at Minnesota, polls indicate that it will be very close. Looking to California polling for some indication as to what we might expect, and it doesn’t look good…

Some new polling data from CBS News/New York Times finds that when presented a choice between marriage, civil unions and no recognition at all, only 38 percent of respondents support gay marriage. With that said, another 24 percent support civil unions. 33 percent of the respondents don’t believe there should be any legal recognition.

These numbers seem to conflict with a poll from Gallup that got a lot of press last week that the majority of Americans (54%) consider gay or lesbian relations as morally acceptable. However, in that poll, there were only two options: Morally Acceptable and Morally Wrong.

When looking at the two together, it seems that America is ready to recognize same-sex couples, however, as been seen in every state facing a marriage amendment America might not quite be ready to apply the M-word to that recognition.

You may remember a post I shared a couple weeks ago regarding Target Corp. and their neutral stance on the marriage amendment. Well, have I got news for you!

Last Sunday, the retailer announced a “Wear it with Pride” campaign featuring a collection of Pride tshirts just in time for summer. Tshirts include words like “Harmony” and “Pride.” One design in the collection was created by rocker Gwen Stefani and reads, “Love is Love.” Even better, 100% of the entire purchase price is being donated to the Family Equality Council (an organization working to promote equality for LGBT families).

Almost immediately, Target began receiving backlash from groups like Minnesota for Marriage and the American Family Association for, and I quote, “ramming same-sex marriage down the throats of the American people.” (source)

When groups like the AFA make such ridiculous statements, it mobilizes the LGBT community and their allies who help refute these claims. One of the posts I read last night said that Target was “attacking traditional marriage.” About half a dozen people posted in response asking the author how a collection of tshirts is threatening their marriage. One poster called out the irony behind leaders who make these claims and the fact that some of them have had three to four of their own “traditional marriages!” That made me chuckle.

In response to the hubbub, Target released the following statement:

Target supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business and has a long history of supporting the LGBT community through giving, volunteerism and event sponsorship and participation. Target does not believe that a constitutional fight over the issue is good for Minnesota or the state’s ability to attract jobs and grow the economy. Consistent with our long-standing support of civic engagement, we are encouraging our team members to exercise their right to vote.

Yeah. Read that again:

Target does not believe that a constitutional fight over the issue is good for Minnesota or the state’s ability to attract jobs and grow the economy.

I was sitting at my desk when one of my co-workers emailed me the link to the Kare11.com article and I was floored! While Target has a long history of supporting the LGBT community (Pride, Project 515, Red Ribbon Ride, AIDS Walk, Bridge for Youth, Out & Equal, domestic partner benefits, partner discount, partner leave to name a few), I’m not sure I was expecting to see a statement like this considering the controversy over the Minnesota Forward donation a couple years back (which I talked about in my previous blog post). But I’ll take it!

Minnesota for Marriage has already used all of this to mobilize their base asking for each person to donate $100 to offset the dollars Target will donate to the Family Equality Council. I’m expecting that One Million Moms will probably have something to say about this whole situation as well.

But even still, this is a historic day as another one of Minnesota’s Fortune 500 companies has ‘come out’ against this mean-spirited amendment.

Thank you for supporting all families, Target. You make me very proud.

Author’s note: Target team member involved with Target’s LGBTA Business Council.

In a story that got a lot of attention last week, a Gallup poll recently showed that the majority of Americans (54%) find gay or lesbian relations “morally acceptable.” Over the past 10 years, this number has grown by nearly 20% from 38% in 2002. According to Gallup, this trend mirrors the growth in public support for gay marriage (now hovering around 50%).

If you’re a numbers fan, Gallup has all sorts of additional breakdowns for you after the click.

Interesting read. New York Times article that paints the picture of two churches separated by many miles and on opposite sides of the marriage amendment.

In Raleigh, NC, Reverend Patrick Wooden speaks to how North Carolina had the support from God’s “high hand” in passing the state marriage amendment.

In Madison, WI, Reverend Susan Schneider preaches that drawing lines between who belongs and who doesn’t leaves Jesus out of the equation:

The only thing that has changed in the church since the first century is who is considered ‘us,’ and who is considered ‘them,’ ” she said. “The essential issue is the same: We aren’t sure ‘they’ belong with God at all. When I was young, a pastor said, whenever you draw a line between us and them, bear in mind that Jesus is on the other side of that line.

Religious organizations will play a large role in the fight for marriage equality. The article clearly highlights that this is true on both sides of the equation. I just fear that there’s a lot more money on the side of marriage amendment supporters…

It’s been a couple weeks now since the President of the United States came out in favor of same-sex marriage. There have been many stories posted since as to whether or not this will help or hurt the Minnesota Marriage Amendment fight.

As you can imagine, both sides claim that it will help their side. Opponents to the amendment say that Obama’s proclamation will help mobilize voters and young people. Proponents of the amendment say that it’s just what they need to help people understand why they must speak up now to define marriage once and for all so that politicians don’t define it for them.

It’ll be interesting to watch this all unfold and read through the analysis on Obama’s decision. While I don’t think his statement will change many minds, I do agree with the article that it should help re-energize and mobilize voters.

Cool concept from our friends over at Minnesotans United for All Families: The ability to create your own fundraising page! With your own page you can encourage friends and family to donate to Minnesotans United through you to defeat the mean-spirited marriage amendment this fall.

I tried to create my own page tonight, but it appears that there are still some bugs that the team needs to work out. While the page created successfully, I cannot actually log in to my account to edit anything on the page (I guess I should have filled in the fields with “temp information”).

I’ll keep you posted on when the kinks get worked out and share with you the page I created.

Neat post from MPR that talks about various priests in Minnesota speaking out against the marriage amendment. With over 1,000 years of service to the Catholic Church, the article captures thoughts and a couple good quotes from these retired priests. Additionally, MPR has reposted a letter that was submitted to the Star Tribune by Fr. John F. Brandes, Fr. Thomas J. Garvey and Fr. J. Timothy Power. The letter concludes with:

We write now to say that there is not just one way for Catholics tovote in November. We ask you to consider voting “No” this November on the Marriage Amendment. We feel that our church is stronger when both sides of an issue are part of the public dialogue. Thank you for your consideration.

Progress. It may be slow, but every day, we move forward bit by bit.

On Saturday, the NAACP passed a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage as a civil right and opposing efforts to build discrimination or hatred into law. This is a very important day for the marriage equality movement, as this should help increase black voter support of same-sex marriage. If you wonder why this is so important, look back to California where exit polling found 70% of black voters opposed same-sex marriage in 2008.

Here is hoping that our Allies in ALL communities in Minnesota step up and speak out against this mean-spirited amendment. The acknowledgement by the NAACP that same-sex marriage is truly a civil right should hopefully help increase support from black voters and reduce the likelihood of another California.

Great op ed piece from former Medtronic CEO, Bill George, speaking out against the Minnesota marriage amendment.

According to George:

Our corporate leaders need to speak out forcefully against this amendment, because their companies have the most to lose if it passes. To date, only former CEOs Wheelock Whitney and Marilyn Carlson Nelson have done so, while other corporate leaders have been notably silent. 

I couldn’t agree more! Unfortunately, nearly six months since starting this blog, and not much movement has been made. In a month, we’ll be celebrating Pride in the Twin Cities and these same companies will be out in big numbers. Unfortunately, no one will think twice about picking up their goody bags or other assorted junk that gets handed out in the park.

I can’t help but wonder if that’s the problem? Have we become too complacent in the fight? My best friend said to me the other day, “In 15 years, this will all be history, so what’s the point worrying about it now?”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just sit around and wait for history to happen. That’s the kind of mentality that’s going to lose this fight.