In the last twenty-four hours, Bluestem has published articles about two of Paul Marquart's constituents who favor marriage equality, and more are on the way. Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which will take up HF1054, Karen Clark's marriage equality bill when it reconvenes this afternoon.
Learn more about today's hearing in MN House Ways & Means Committee to hear HF1054, marriage equality bill, Monday, May 6.
Marquart, who has remained uncommitted about how he stands on the bill, may have to vote today to move or table the bill (one supposes that he could also abstain, though that seems cowardly, indeed). He's not the only undeclared DFLer on the committee--there are also Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin) and Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona). Like Marquart, Poppe represents a district where citizens voted for the amendment to restrict the right to marriage to heterosexual couples.
Not so with Gene Pelowski, whose college town voted the amendment down, after months of letters in the Winona Daily News and rallies supporting the freedom to marry.
Bluestem hopes Pelowski will remember that vote, while listening to more recent voices being raised in support for the freedom to marry.
Two op-ed piece in the Winona Daily News suggest that that support is wide and deep. In a group column in Monday's Winona Daily News, WSU students call for Freedom to Marry, addressing both Pelowski and Senator Jeremy Miller (R-Winona). They write in part:
. . .Last year, we gained firsthand experience and saw the impact of our collective efforts materialize in the defeat of the "marriage" amendment. We turned out to vote in record numbers, because an issue important to our generation was at stake. According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, while 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, 81 percent of people under 30 support it. Young people propelled the victory. We helped defeat the amendment.
This year, we ask our legislature to pass the freedom to marry for all families. It's the right thing to do. It's also the best thing to do for our campus and our community.
As student leaders, we work hard to represent all students and help every student succeed. Students entering college need to feel like they have a place in our community. When we restrict the freedom to marry from every student, it damages our collective community and our learning environment.
As students, we entrust the school to find the best teachers, professors, mentors, and staff. As ten other states now have the freedom to marry, we must join them to ensure that no applicant overlooks WSU for another location because of a law on our books.
Lastly, as we ourselves graduate and look for jobs, we want to live and work in states that have the freedom to marry for everyone. If Iowa has this and Illinois is expected to pass the freedom to marry soon, Minnesota must not fall behind.
Senator Miller and Representative Pelowski, thank you for your hard work, dedication, and support of Winona State University. We ask you to keep it up and support the freedom to marry this year.
The column is signed by 30 student leaders, including the president, vice-president, vice president-elect, treasurer and treasurer-elect of the student senate.
The students aren't alone in their call for support for the Dibble/Clark bills in the Senate and House. In Local businesses back Freedom to Marry, ten business owners outlined the pro-business case for marriage equality:
n Discrimination is bad for business. A welcoming state is essential to recruiting and retaining the best young talent. Minnesota employers have known this for years. Minnesota's largest and most successful companies have been the nation's leaders in creating diverse workplaces and extending family benefits to domestic partners. This leadership has made our community a strong magnet for attracting and retaining the nation's top talent - not just gay and lesbian professionals, but today's educated young workers who increasingly say that living in welcoming communities is important.
n Uncertainty undermines business planning. Uncertainty is inefficient and expensive. Consider the challenges of our multi-state and multi-national employers who increasingly will have to sort out a patchwork of state and federal laws affecting marriage. Yes, even if the Minnesota Legislature grants marriage equality this year, laws won't be uniform across the country. But action this year gives Minnesota businesses the opportunity to start planning for the equality that is certain to come.
n Marriage inequality makes some of our employees second-class citizens. Turnover and a loss of productivity are two of the consequences that come when some employees are denied rights that most of us take for granted, including family issues and end-of-life decisions among many others. Workplace policies aren't a replacement for equal rights under the law.
Marriage equality is not on the legislative agenda simply because Minnesota voters soundly defeated the constitutional amendment which sought to limit the definition of marriage in November. That vote may have accelerated legislative consideration of the issue, but it would have arrived at the Capitol sooner rather than later with or without last fall's vote. This choice is before you now because it is the right thing to do, for our employees and their families, for our companies' business success and for the economic prosperity of all Minnesotans.
We urge the legislature to reaffirm Minnesota's leadership in equality and economic opportunity by passing legislation in 2013 that ensures gay and lesbian Minnesotans, at long last, have the freedom to marry the person they love.
What case are opponents to the freedom to marry making? On today's op-ed page, Monday, May 6, there's one letter opposing marriage equality, Shameful lusts. Bluestem is saddened that the writer is unable to understand how love is love. We know our own circles would be improvished if the loving partnerships of our gay and lesbian friends were to vanish from our life.
The House Ways and Means Committee will meet at 10:00 a.m. Monday (today) in Room 200 of the State Office Building, but take up the bill in the afternoon after the committee reconvenes following the day's floor session. Readers can watch the committee hearing at this link at The Uptake. Pelowski sits on the committee.Photo: 28A Representative Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona). Is he listening to and reading what his constituents are saying about the freedom to marry? His constituents who want to contact him about the bill before the Ways and Means committee reconvenes can find contact information here: Gene Pelowski Jr. 28A
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