Minnesota Lawmakers Debate Gay Marriage
Heated debate even as sentiment shifts
Minnesota legislators who are determined to legalize same-sex marriage opened up the newest battleground over the issue Wednesday.
"This is a day that Minnesotans should be very proud of," said Sen. Scott Dibble, a Minneapolis DFLer who is a chief sponsor of a bill introduced Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage. "Our challenge in coming weeks is that we really have this discussion with renewed energy, about why marriage matters, why family matters."
With legislative supporters vowing to press hard on the issue, opponents say the other side is dangerously out of sync with Minnesotans' values.
"It's a huge mistake to believe the lie that the results of the November election was a mandate to legalize gay marriage," said John Helmberger, chairman of Minnesota for Marriage, which is leading the opposition to the proposal. Minnesotans defeated an attempt to constitutionally ban same-sex unions, but many of the state's less populated areas voted solidly in favor of the ban.
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The morality of Gay marriage is comparable to the morality of Straight marriage: It is morally and ethically preferable to encourage people toward monogamy and commitment, rather than relegating them to lives of loneliness and possibly promiscuity.
Studies have repeatedly shown that the benefits are substantial:
1: Married couples typically contribute more and take less from society.
2: Married couples support and care for each other financially, physically and emotionally and often contribute more to the economy and savings.
3: Individuals who are married are less likely to receive government entitlements.
4: Individuals who are married statistically consume less health care services, and often give more to churches and charities.
5: Married couples are better able to provide care and security for children.
So what sense does it make to exclude law-abiding, taxpaying Gay couples from this place at the table? Why is it, for example, that Straight couples are encouraged to date, get engaged, marry and build lives together in the context of monogamy and commitment, and that this is a GOOD thing ? yet for Gay couples to do exactly the same is somehow a BAD thing? To me this seems like a very poor value judgment.