On Mar 8, 2004, at 8:05 AM, Terrell Brown wrote:
Mayor Greg Nickels was to sign an executive order Monday giving same-sex spouses of city employees all the benefits of heterosexual spouses, including health insurance.
[TB] Why doesn't Minneapolis do this? Sure the court said that the City can't give benefits to people who aren't married, but these folks are married.
They are <not> married according to the law - and Minnesota does not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex:
Minn. Stat. 517.03 Prohibited marriages. Subdivision 1. General. (a) The following marriages are prohibited: [...] (4) a marriage between persons of the same sex. (b) A marriage entered into by persons of the same sex, either under common law or statute, that is recognized by another state or foreign jurisdiction is void in this state and contractual rights granted by virtue of the marriage or its termination are unenforceable in this state. [...]
Marriage will only be increasing as it's now happening in a couple of Canadian provinces and several US states. The list of places allowing marriage is growing every day.
Outside of some members of the Judiciary enacting statute through their bypass of representative democracy, and renegade members of the Executive acting outside of law and their authority, there is no such entity as - as you imply - "marriage" - between members of the same sex.
If an official of the Executive of any municipality in this State were to sign such an order, that public official will be liable for prosecution under Minnesota Statute.
If you think that a Post-Judeo-Christian society will be a utopia for the citizens of the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota, you'll have to prove in the Legislature, and obtain the consent of the governed: for Such Proclamations by a King or a Court are Illegal, Pernicious, and Void.
Neal Krasnoff Loring Park
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