Just wanted to share this...

I just wanted to share this article with the GLBT board here. I had my surgery on 6/3 of last year and I'm almost to goal! But in the meantime, here's some news! Fergus Falls, Minnesota Saturday, April 03, 2004 Nornes, Larson agree: ban gay marriage By Forrest Adams The hot-button issue of same-sex marriage has our two elected lawmakers, Rep. Bud Nornes and Sen. Cal Larson, in agreement that marriage should be defined as an institution between one man and one woman, they said, but there is another voice to be heard in Fergus Falls. It comes from resident Lisa Belletete, formerly of New Hampshire, who adamantly disagreed with the opinions of both lawmakers on this issue. "Marriage ought not to have gender specifications!" said Belletete. She objects to anything that would define marriage contrary to the Webster's Dictionary definition, and read: "The state of being married. A wedding ceremony. A close union." Belletete said she is exasperated with the debate over state recognition of same-sex unions and said Legislators are not looking at things that matter," though she did go on to define this as a culturally definitive issue. A proud homosexual, she questions the legitimacy of government intervention in the private life of same-sex partners. "What gives them [Legislators] the right to define marriage and use their morality to tell us that how we want to live our lives is wrong?" "Society has the right to set that moral standard," said Nornes, in favor of placing a question on the Minnesota voting ballots in November. To be decided is whether or not the state constitution should be amended to make state recognized same-sex marriages unconstitutional. Belletete agreed that the issue should be placed before the voters. "It needs to be put to the people," she said, then went on to offer a diametric proposal to current bills in the Minnesota Legislature. "They need to change the language of the constitution to say that marriage is genderless," she said, not "redefine what Webster has already defined." At issue in the House and Senate are a House bill that approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which was narrowly voted down by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and two different Senate bills. One Senate bill, by Sen. Bachmann (R- Stillwater), "proposes a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as an institution between one man and one woman," Larson said, and the other, by Sen. Betzold (DFL- Fridley), does not define marriage, but "proposes a constitutional amendment to restrict judges from defining marriage." "Minnesota currently has a law requiring marriages to be between members of the opposite sex and prevents the state from recognizing same-sex unions granted by other states," said Sen. Larson. "However, that alone may not prevent our state from being forced by a court of seven judges, as happened in Massachusetts, to repeal this provision and rewrite the state's marriage laws. The only way to ensure that this will not happen is to make such a decision by courts itself unconstitutional," he said. "The issue will likely get hammered out in a conference committee," said Nornes. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Sorry it's so long, but I thought its worth it.

Thank you for the article. My partner and I live in a suburb of the cities and too feel frustrated with the whole marriage debate. I don't care if it is called marriage...union works just fine for me as long as we get the same rights and benefits of heterosexual marriage. Thank you for being a voice to be heard. Anna