You probably heard that yesterday Delaware became the 11th state in the country to legalize marriage equality. Its very possible that in the next few days, Minnesota could become #12.
Yesterday a bill that would bring marriage equality to the state passed its last committee hurdle in the state House. The Speaker - who said he wouldn't bring it to the floor for a vote until he was sure it would pass - plans to do so this Thursday. The state Senate - where passage is more assured - is likely to vote on it Saturday. And if you wonder what Governor Mark Dayton will do, check out what he posted on Facebook yesterday.
How we got here is important. In 2010, the state elected Democrat Mark Dayton as Governor following 8 years of Pawlenty. While that was great news, the same wave that affected the rest of the country during that mid-term election brought us a Republican House and Senate. Of course gridlock ensued and we experienced a government shut-down over the state budget.
But the 2012 election saw everyone come back to their senses. We reversed course and now have a Democratic House and Senate.
I say all that to give those of you laboring in states that have been struggling to throw off the yoke of the 2010 elections some hope. Only 6 months after Minnesotans made that change, we find ourselves on course to be #12 in the country.
Elections have consequences!
Elections do have consequences. Bills signed into law have consequences, too. Not the least of which is a ballot measure attempting to repeal said law. Ballot measures such as these that appear in off-years tend to pass because of low turn-out. So saying Minnesota might be #12 needs an asterisk. #12 until the voters have their say.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on righting the ship over there, by the way.
Don't know if you remember, but there was a ballot measure here in 2012 that would have codified marriage between one man and one woman. If failed and set the stage for this. So my guess is that once this one passes, there won't be much appetite for more.
DeleteThat's wonderful news. We were lucky enough to have the repeal ballot measure last cycle, so it lost big time.
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