Given the trend of rural Democratic house members announcing their support (or leaning toward support) of state representative Karen Clark's freedom to marry legislation, Bluestem was overjoyed but not surprised to receive statements from the Minnesota House and Minnesotans United for All Families that HF1054 would be scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday.
The note from the House was straightforward:
This morning the Minnesota House Rules committee will meet to calendar HF 1054, the marriage equality bill, for a House floor vote on Thursday, May 9th.
The House floor session will begin today at 9:00 a.m. and is expected to recess shortly after. The House Rules committee will begin 5 to 10 minutes after the recess, at approximately 9:30 a.m in State Capitol Room 118.
Minnesotans United for All Families was more exuberant:
Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives announced that HF1054, a bill to extend civil marriage to same-sex couples while strongly protecting religious freedoms in our state, will receive a vote on the House floor on Thursday, May 9.
House leadership has repeatedly said that HF1054 would not come before the House floor until the necessary 68 votes to pass it were secured. Today’s announcement signals that those votes have been secured and that the freedom to marry legislation will pass and move to the Senate floor for a final vote.
“Thursday’s vote in the Minnesota House of Representatives will be a historic victory for thousands of same-sex couples and families in our state,” said Minnesotans United Campaign Manager Richard Carlbom. “We are confident that the necessary votes to extend the freedom to marry for same-sex couples have been secured and that HF1054 will pass the House floor. The Minnesota House of Representatives is now poised to make Minnesota the next state to grant civil marriage to same-sex couples and their families by affirming what we already know to be true: Marriage is about the love, commitment, and responsibility that two people share, and it is a basic freedom that should no longer be denied to some simply because of who they are.”(emphasis added)
The Associated Press reports via WDAY in Minnesota House schedules Thursday gay marriage vote:
The Minnesota House has scheduled a Thursday debate and floor vote on the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.House DFL leadership announced the plans Tuesday. House Speaker Paul Thissen has previously said that scheduling the vote would be a signal that DFL leaders secured the 68 votes needed to pass the bill.
The Dibble bill to legalize gay marriage in Minnesota faces one more step before the full Senate can vote on it. The Senate Finance Committee this morning considers a whether it will be worth $678,000 a year in addtional costs to the state.
Watch the Senate Finance Committee archival footage here at The Uptake:
Contact your representative and senator to ask them to vote yes on extending the right to marry to loving same-sex couples.
Image: The happy new image from MN United for All Families.
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