Gay marriage moves to the middle of the country as Minnesota and Illinois make moves to legalize it.
On May 9, the Minnesota House will vote on legalizing gay marriage; if the bill passes, the state will become the 12th in the country and only the second in the Midwest—Iowa was the first in 2009—to make gay marriage legal, and if things go well, Illinois may soon follow. Earlier this week Delaware became the 11th state to approve gay marriage
The Illinois Senate already approved gay marriage but is waiting on the House to pass it before any progress can be made. If the Minnesota House passes the bill, the Senate could have it on their table by Saturday.
Chris Kluwe, recently released from the Minnesota Vikings, sent out his words of support to the campaign: “I’m sure going to miss the land of 10,000 lakes, but I know you’ll keep working to make Minnesota a better place for ALL families.”
“We are so close to achieving the dream of thousands of same-sex couples to legally marry the person they love, to protect their families, and to take responsibility for each other,” said campaign manager Richard Carlbom of Minnesotans United. “We can’t stop now, because we aren’t there yet.”
Photo: AP/File
I hope this is a triumph for human dignity and equality, but I wonder how much of it is driven not by progressive ideas but some very old-fashioned ones that still need to be challenged. I suspect much of this success is a product of American culture’s obsession with “couplehood” and its overly romantic view of marriage. American culture is obsessed with couples and making couples and weddings as the greatest moments in life, etc. Acceptance of same-sex marriage is probably a victory of our neurosis about “finding your other half’ as much as anything else. Welcome aboard. You fought… Read more »