The current debate over whether Minneapolis
officials should/could issue marriage licenses I think
should be focused on two points: legal and political
1) legal. The mayor of San Francisco is basing his
reaoning in issuing the license on the California
State Constitution's rather lengthy Article I called
Declaration of Rights. The relevant portion reads:
CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 1 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
SEC. 7. (a) A person may not be deprived of life,
liberty, or
property without due process of law or denied equal
protection of the
laws;
This section mimics the language of the 14th Amendment
to the US Constitution. Minnesota's Constitution has
no such wording. The closest it gets is:
ARTICLE I
BILL OF RIGHTS
Sec. 2. RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES. No member of this state
shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the
rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof,
unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his
peers.
The last part of this section seems to give the
judiciary far less wiggle room for a broad
interpretation allowing gay marriage, IMHO.
2)political. We live in a far different state than
CA. We have a Governor who is considerably more
hostile to GLBT rights (despite his It's Time
Minnesota vote) and the legislature is far more
conservative socially than California, let alone
hostile to the city of Minneapolis anyway.
Supporters of gay marriage (including me) are
also going to have to face the fact that any
unilateral actions by Minneapolis will probably have
the effect of passing Michelle Bachmann's draconian
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage for her.
I don't think RT and the city govt. should go out of
its way to assist her.
Loki Anderson
Marshall Terrace
=====
As through this life you travel
You'll meet some funny men.
Some'll rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
-Woody Guthrie
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools
REMINDERS:
1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
