On Monday, the Minnesota House held its first ever hearings into legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota. There are three bills that the House is considering but there will be no votes.
Still, the hearing for the Civil Justice Committee is stirring up a lot of emotion. The bills would recognize gay marriages in Minnesota and from other states.
The bill would eliminate the word marriage in state law and replace it will civil union contract. Gay and lesbian couples told the committee they lead normal lives but opponents called it immoral.
The three bills contemplated during the hour long testimony from both advocates and opponents were: one to create civil unions, one to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages and one to allow full legal marriage for same-sex couples.
The hearing was for informational purposes only.
In a recent interview with Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Pawlenty expresses his regret for having voted in favor of a 1993 state bill, the first of its kind in the nation, that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Anoka-Hennepin School District reported that two teachers who repeatedly mocked a student they believed was gay are on leave, a district official said Tuesday.
