This is an email from OutFront Minnesota. And while I’m not one to just cut-and-paste a statement from an organization, this is urgent enough to make an exception.

TODAY: Proponents of “anti-marriage” amendment force TWO Senate votes … take action!

(March 20) - One day before the Minnesota Family Council’s planned rally at the State Capitol in favor of a proposed amendment to the Minnesota constitution that would ban any form of legal recognition of same-sex couples, senators supporting the amendment forced two procedural votes designed to short-circuit Senate rules for handling bills, including constitutional amendments.

In a first vote, senators turned back by a 34-31 tally a demand by Sen. Michele Bachmann (R - Stillwater) that the bill, SF 1691, be pulled from the Senate Judiciary Committee and be brought to the Senate floor for a vote by the full Senate.

A second move, sponsored by Sean Nienow (R - Cambridge), proposed a new constitutional amendment, identical to Sen. Bachmann’s, and also insisted that it be put to an immediate vote by the full Senate. This effort was defeated by a 35-30 vote.

These proposals to simply ignore the rules of the Senate managed to eat up some three hours of the Senate calendar. In the end, both proposals were DEFEATED, outcomes that OutFront Minnesota supports strongly. Vote count: each DFL Senator (and Independence Party Sen. Sheila Kiscaden of Rochester) voted against these proposals EXCEPT Sen. Jim Vickerman (DFL - Tracy), and each Republican Senator voted for these proposals. DFL Sens. Mee Moua and Leroy Stumpf were absent and did not vote. Sen. Gary Kubly (DFL - Granite Falls) inadvertently voted in favor of Sen. Bachmann’s proposal, but voted against Sen. Nienow’s, which explains the inconsistent vote tallies above.

TAKE ACTION! If you have not contacted your state senator yet to register your opposition to SF 1691, a proposal that would mandate permanent second-class citizenship for same-sex couples in Minnesota by withholding any form of legal recognition of their families, THIS IS THE TIME. Senators who stood with us on these votes, including Sen. Kubly, need to be thanked for taking a courageous stand against those who insist on amending our constitution, for the first time, to single out a group of people for unequal treatment. Senators who supported these procedural moves need to be reminded that their constituents do not support them. Sens. Moua and Stumpf should be thanked for their historic support for OutFront Minnesota’s position on the constitutional amendment proposal, and encouraged to stay strong in the face of relentless attacks by amendment supporters.

Click here for a complete list of senators, where their phone numbers, email addresses, and addresses are quickly available. Don’t know who your state senator is? Click here to type in your zip code and be provided your state senator’s (and state representative’s) name.

Minnesotans: TAKE ACTION!

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