BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — By a vote of 37 to 30, Minnesota’s Senate voted to legalize gay marriage, making it the 12th American state to do so, even as the bill’s opponents hoped until the last moment that the measure would fail.
The Star Tribune notes that three Democrats – Senators LeRoy Stumpf, Dan Sparks and Lyle Koenen – voted against the bill, while one Republican, Senator Branden Petersen, voted yes.
According to the report, Republican Senator Dan Hall said he was “praying for a miracle” and hoped the Senate would reject the legislation. “Some people have said that they are concerned about being on the right side of history. I am more concerned about being on the right side of eternity,” the Tribune quotes Hall as saying. Other opponents carried signs saying, “Don’t Erase Moms and Dads.”
The measure’s next stop is Governor Mark Dayton, who is scheduled to sign it into law tomorrow, May 14, on the steps of the state Capitol. The Senate vote follows a vote last week in the House where lawmakers voted 75 to 59 in favour of the measure.
Minnesota voters opposed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage during the last year’s American election, even as many districts supported it.
Still, the number of people who gathered at the Capitol to back the bill outnumbered those who opposed it, according to the Tribune, and greeted supportive legislators with singing and drumming.
“We have nothing to fear from love and commitment,” Democrat Senator John Hoffman said.
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