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Tim wrote to me and said: "Thanks for your your comments. But, do you think that this is an issue for the St. Paul City Council to address. And if so, why at the city council level?"
He then asked for me to jump back in on the board and address that if I wanted to. So...
Yes, I do think this is something for the St. Paul City Council to address. There are organizations that keep track of which communities have passed ordinances like this - like one opposing an amendment that restricts marriage, or the PATRIOT act. News sources heard about the number of cities, townships and states that had approved measures to resist implementing the PATRIOT Act. I think the number of places that passed these measures have caused the federal justice dept. to act differently when it came to enforcement. I think it made the politicians think twice about PATRIOT II. I think it had a lot to do with the current push to repeal PATRIOT I altogether.
So I think that having a city council issue an official proclamation (or whatever) that they oppose the anti-gay marriage amendment can have a real effect. It's not just a feel-good thing. It's going on record with opinion and letting others know what our opinion is... and that we're not just going to roll over and accept it.
People's opinions are formed by a lot of things, but one of the most persuasive is the opinions of those around them. The more people who speak out against the anti-gay amendment, the more those who were undecided will shift to agree. To take a less machiavellian tack - The more information we can get out there about the amendment and the social issues around it, through dialogues like this, the better equipped people are to make an informed decision.
The city council level should do this because as far as I know, it's the smallest level. Start small. Don't overshoot. Build concensus and debate the issue on a small level. That way if you fail, you can try again in Minneapolis and try to learn from your mistakes. If you fail on a large scale, there's no way the smaller groups will listen. But if you start small, you can always keep going to a larger and larger forum without as much opposition as you'd get from going the opposite direction. Plus, it is more impressive to say "X and Y stand against anti-gay amendment" than "Z stands against anti-gay amendment", even if X and Y are smaller component groups to Z. Most people are less politically informed than myself and a bunch of names and places are more impressive than a single place, even if that single place is bigger than the list.
Mary Baker East Side
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