In liberal Minnesota traditional marriage still leading in polls
by Mass Resistance
We've all been told what a liberal state Minnesota is. So it's natural to worry about the outcome of the marriage amendment vote this November. But at this point, all of the polls show "Yes" to the anti-"gay marriage" amendment to the Minnesota Constitution ahead of the "No" votes.
| There is, however, an added challenge: According to the ballot rules, if a voter ignores the marriage amendment on the ballot, that is taken as a "no" vote. So the pro-family forces are working even harder to educate people about this. |
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Pro-family groups in the fight
In Minnesota the Catholic Church is the major in-state force in the pro-marriage fight. In 2011 the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis raised $750,000 to fund the marriage campaign. This week the Church is sending a letter to more than 400,000 Catholic households to raise money for TV ads.
The other major in-state group in the battle is Minnesota For Marriage (which uses information from our book "What same-sex 'marriage' has done to Massachusetts.")
And we've seen that a lot of the hard work around the state is being done by independent groups and individuals up and down the state who have stepped up and are organizing, speaking, leafleting, putting up signs, and more. It's an impressive grass-roots effort. In addition, hundreds of our booklets have been sent to Minnesota, and of course many more have been downloaded and printed out.
| One of the effective groups fighting hard in this battle in Minnesota is the Pro-Marriage Amendment Forum, led by Kevin Peterson. We've been working with him for over ten years. He is a former homosexual activist who advocated for "gay marriage" back in the 1980s and 1990's. But he's been married for 13 years -- to a woman -- and they have three children. He and his group are going across the state giving powerful speeches and confronting the myths about "gay marriage" being spread by the homosexual community. |
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It appears that the state GOP and the other conservative Protestant churches are unfortunately very weak in their efforts to organize and push for the amendment. A favorite line that's been heard from conservative churches, particularly in DFL dominated areas, is that the amendment is "divisive" -- a line borrowed from the homosexual activist playbook. Well, yes it is divisive. Opposition to slavery and segregation was also divisive. But you still have to do what's right.
Lots of silent conservative Democrats
An interesting paradox is being found in much of the rural part of the state where the Democratic Farm Labor (DFL) Party has been entrenched for generations. The DFL itself strongly supports "gay marriage." But we've been hearing from activists that large numbers of the rank and file DFLers tend to be more socially conservative and (quietly) don't support "gay marriage." On the other hand, they're not making a lot of noise about it, either. So the polls could be even more pro-marriage than they seem.
Homosexual lobby seems to be getting desperate
The homosexual lobby seems to be sensing a problem. And some apparently are starting to take matters into their own hands with their tried-and-true tactics of intimidation. This weekend we were talking to pro-marriage activists around the state, and one of the common themes we heard was that there's been a big rash of vandalism of marriage signs, also tires slashed on cars with marriage bumper stickers. The activists also complained that the media ignores this, but greatly exaggerates instances of alleged vandalism of pro-"gay marriage" signs.
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More and more of this is been seen across Minnesota |
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Confronting marriage supporters is another harassment tactic. There are reports of homosexual activists using social media to stalk known marriage amendment supporters.
At this point things are looking fairly good in Minnesota. But the next several weeks will be crucial.