I feel like I just ran an marathon. I had so many ups and downs with the MN House marriage equality hearing that I’m exhausted. When Rep. Tim Kelly tried to tack on an amendment to reduce all marriages to civil unions just so he wouldn’t have to vote for or against marriage equality, I about went through my screen. Then my representative got up there and agreed. We will be having words the next time we see each other! Thankfully, that amendment was quickly defeated.
Then, they got to the meat of the debate and I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of it. I yelled at some people, again, and shook my head when the oh-so-debunked Regnarus study was brought up as proof that kids of same-sex parent headed households did worse off (OMG! One of the most erroneous conclusions ever derived from a study that looked at only 2 same-sex headed households out of 5000!).
But, marriage equality prevailed in the House. Now it moves to the Senate where there is a majority of Democrats. Thirty-nine to twenty-eight, to be precise. I hope all the Democrats show up for work that day! And Governor Dayton has already vowed to sign the bill when it gets to his desk.
This means so much to my friends, to me, and of course, to my lovely characters who I’ve placed right here in my own backyard. I can’t wait to get to the edits on my most recent manuscript. I’ve had comments in the margin for months now saying, “Change this if marriage equality passes. PLEASE PASS!” I get to do edits that will make my heart so happy!
Minnesota would be the twelfth state. Let’s make it an even dozen.
**UPDATE: My representative voted for the bill. Lucky! Now we won’t have to have words. I’m sure part of the vote for the civil union amendment was to appease all the conservatives here at home.
