Border wars: Minneapolis mayor brings gay marriage pitch to Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak wants same-sex couples in Wisconsin to get married next door in neighboring Minnesota.

Rybak brought his pitch to Milwaukee and Madison on Monday at a pair of news conferences in which he unveiled a new ad campaign inviting same-sex couples to travel to Minneapolis and get legally married. Similar ads are also being run in publications in Chicago and the mayor plans to do something similar in Colorado.

Rybak says progressive public policy is good for business and he hopes that Wisconsin will soon join Minnesota in recognizing gay marriage.

Wisconsin voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 barring gay marriage in the state and Republican policy makers have shown no interest in reversing that.

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Last week, R.T. Rybak traveled to Illinois, where he launched his campaign in a predominantly gay neighborhood in Chicago. He hopes the campaign will take advantage of frustrations that Illinois has not approved a same-sex marriage law.

His message is that residents in the Midwest no longer have to make a long and expensive trip to the coasts to get married.