Recently, I saw a couple friends on Facebook post that they were “blocked” from the Minnesota for Marriage Facebook page. Curious, I decided to take a look at the page to see what all the talk was about. What I found breaks my heart.
Below, I’ve posted just a handful of the hundreds of posts from the Minnesota for Marriage page.
Warning: If you are easily offended, you may wish to stop reading at this point.
The first post I captured was created by Laura Catherine Cummings. Cummings was responding to a poster that refuted claims made by Minnesota for Marriage in their recent television ad. Cummings shares that if people vote no, “the Government will force us to teach and accept that masturbation/sodomy between gays is equal to if not better than the procreative conjugal union between a married man and woman.”
I’m not sure what’s more disheartening, the fact that she believes this, or the fact that 8 others have already liked her comment. Cummings’ concerns are easily refuted by looking at any other state – or nation – that has legalized gay marriage (eg, Iowa). Nothing has changed. Not only that, but Minnesota isn’t even voting to legalize gay marriage! Marriage is already defined as one man, one woman in the state of Minnesota. This amendment would just make it super-duper clear to committed gay and lesbian couples that they have no hope of celebrating their love in Minnesota.
The second post is from Alex Mezeritski. Unfortunately, we can’t be fully certain what he is trying to say as his statement is fairly incoherent. It seems that he has concerns with a same-sex couple adopting children with his use of quotes around the word “family.”
I’d encourage Mr. Mezeritski to watch this wonderful video featuring Zach Wahls if he has any doubt that a non-traditional family can successfully raise children. As for Mezeritski’s claims about school curriculums changing, multiple organizations have already refuted these claims as being false. A NO vote on this mean-spirited amendment has zero impact on school curriculum as same-sex marriage would still not be legal in Minnesota. And even in those states where it is legal (Iowa), nothing has changed.
The third post is from Jill Cyr. I can’t even tell you how sickening this makes me:
I’ve posted about these absurd claims before. In my Note to Jessie, I share the definition of marriage: A binding and legal contract. It doesn’t take someone with a doctoral degree to realize that a sheep will never be able to enter into a binding and legal contract. As for kids, family members, toasters or any other comparison people like Cyr make, it’s all about creating a distraction. Defeating this amendment doesn’t change the definition of marriage, nor does it somehow make it legal to marry your kitchen appliances. It simply keeps discrimination out of the Minnesota state constitution. That’s it. Marriage will still be defined as one man, one woman. But the other side knows they can’t win their fight just standing on that alone; they introduce these sick comparisons and make these ignorant statements.
The last post I’ll share is from Melissa Henke. Henke sums up her feelings simply:
You see, for many amendment supporters, love doesn’t matter. In Henke’s case, she doesn’t want to have to be “exposed” to a loving and committed relationship if both individuals are of the same sex. Well, here’s the thing: Even if this amendment passes, gay and lesbian couples don’t disappear. They will still be here in Minnesota. They will still fall in love. They will still raise families. And Henke’s children will be “exposed” to gay and lesbian peers, teachers, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors… Well, you get the idea. Defeating this amendment doesn’t introduce children to gay people any more than happens today. However, if this amendment were to pass, people like Henke and her children, would now have a group of classmates to tease and bully because voters in the state of Minnesota will have said: “Your kind is less than and you don’t deserve the same rights.”
As I mentioned, these are just a couple of posts from the Minnesota for Marriage page. If you’re still wondering who is voting for this mean-spirited amendment, now you know. And there are hundreds of posts and thousands of “likes” on the Minnesota for Marriage page that prove these folks aren’t just outliers. These are real Minnesotans who believe that I deserve to be treated differently because who I fall in love with.
And that’s why I’m telling my story.
