As of 5:00 p.m. CST today, Governor Mark Dayton will sign into law the bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Minnesota. This makes Minnesota the twelveth state in the Union to allow same-sex couples to marry. The law will take effect on August first of this year.
WOOHOO! We did it, everybody!
This four-day weekend is my fall break from university, so my mother requested that I return home for a few days. One reason was because of an anniversary party for my brother-in-law’s parents, held today in a town about fifty miles south of my parents’ home in rural southwestern Minnesota. I was noticeably femme’d up for the occasion, so I got a few compliments from people and my mother kept passive-aggressively trying to hook me up with a young co-worker from her seasonal job. Anyway, onto the reason for this post.
We took two different routes to the party: on the way there we drove through a few towns, and on the way back we took more back roads. I saw fourteen “Vote Yes on the Marriage Amendment” lawn signs today.
In case you’re unaware, a proposed amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution is being voted on by the general public this November. Its aim is to super-ban same-sex marriage in the state of Minnesota; that is, to define marriage as the union between one man and one woman. It’s already illegal for gay couples to marry here, and if this amendment is to pass, the future of marriage equality in this state is pretty grim.
I saw a “Vote Yes” sign for the first time a few weeks ago, and I’ll be honest, I let out a few sobs (to be fair, I hadn’t taken my meds that morning either). I ought to be used to it by now, but it still hurts to be reminded that such hatred against people like me exists.
I’m just glad my parents don’t have a “Vote Yes” sign in their yard.
it's the colleen life 