Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota

February 7th is fast approaching. As many folks are buzzing about the caucuses, the main focus most people have is on the GOP presidential candidate nominee and which one will address the issues that concern them the most as Republicans, conservatives, or whatever political label they choose to identify themselves with. What’s your issue? Government spending? Budget cuts? Preemptive war? Inconsistent foreign policy? Education? Imposing Theocracy?

Whatever your issue(s) may be, it is important to remember that the principles our state party stands for are as important as the ultimate winner of the presidential nomination. It is no secret that our party platform has become burdensome and overloaded with a hodge podge of special interest driven detail that essentially creates a litmus test nearly impossible for someone to pass and even harder to avoid contradiction.

Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota is a firm believer in strong conservative values, which is why we are supporting the following resolution to Plank 4 and would appreciate your support in presenting this resolution at your caucuses.

Under Strengthening Families and Communities (plank 4)

Here is the text location -

Preamble:

Strengthen our Families and Communities

We recognize the blessings that God has bestowed on this great Nation. We also recognize the sanctity of human life and the central role of the traditional family in our society.
We work to defend those values in order to strengthen our families and communities.

 Plank:

Section 4 – Strengthen our Families and Communities

We recognize the blessings that God has bestowed on this great Nation. We also recognize the sanctity of human life and the central role of the traditional family in our society.
We work to defend those values in order to strengthen our families and communities.

Protect our Families and Children

As Republicans, we believe in the sanctity of human life and marriage, and the central role of the traditional family in our society. In order to protect our families and communities, we need to change laws regarding marriage, divorce, adoption, child support, welfare, taxes and others. Minnesota’s laws governing marriage should be amended to offer a ‘Covenant Marriage’ option, entailing extensive premarital counseling and limits on divorce. Grandparents and other relatives should be the first option when children cannot live with their parents. Racial preference is wrong; in cases of adoption, Minnesota should make it easier and less costly for a traditional married couple to adopt a child of any race. In child custody cases, privileges of the father should be restored to comply with the 14th Amendment.

We support restricting the production, sale and promotion of vulgar and obscene material, especially to children, and believe that pornography-blocking software should be installed on all computers with internet access in publicly financed institutions.

Defend the Definition of Marriage

We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman, and that the U.S. Constitution and the Minnesota constitution should be amended to this effect.
We oppose civil unions or their legal equivalents between same-sex couples and therefore, domestic partner benefits should not be publicly funded.

We feel that burdening the state party platform with terms like “traditional”,  unjustly promotes an idealistic and impractical assumption that the party does not appreciate or respect any family that does not fit within a specific mold. Even the terms “traditional marriage” , “traditional family”, etc have evolved from their original definitions. As Republicans and conservatives, we believe in and support strong families.. period. Neither the Republican party nor the government should be in the business of telling any one of us what our family should look like in order to be valid.

Additionally, we do not feel it is in the best interest of the state party or the government to dictate who should be allowed to wed. Government should not be in the business of mandating and controlling marriage. Its obligation is to enforce contracts between consenting adults. Therefore we support removing language in the platform supporting constitutional bans preventing two consenting adults who wish to legally contract to marry. This should be left up to the individuals, their families, and their churches to decide.  Should future generations in Minnesota decide to allow legal contracts between two same sex consenting adults, the legislature should be capable of adjusting the laws responsibly to accommodate the will of the people without facing constitution restraint. This is not the intent of the state constitution and is not a Republican position.

We appreciate your support as we continue to educate people and improve our party.

Follow-us: Twitter @mnlogcabin   Facebook:  Minnesota Log Cabin Republicans    on the web: www.mnlogcabin.org

This is your chance to thank Reps. Kriesel, Kelly, Murray and Smith for their couragous vote against putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot which will divide Minnesotans and distract from the important issues Republicans were elected to address. Let them know you appreciate their vote, and that because they stood by us, we’ll stand by them. Representative Kriesel was right – Minnesota has their backs!

On May 21, 2011, four Republican leaders took a stand for freedom and fairness by voting against putting the marriage amendment on the ballot. Join Log Cabin Republicans in thanking our champions today! Representatives John Kriesel, Tim Kelly, Rich Murray and Steve Smith represent a stronger, more inclusive GOP that we can all be proud of.

Click here to go to our action center to send a thank you note  Representatives Kriesel, Kelly, Murray and Smith.

In a follow up to our last post, we offer another salute to Representative Tim Kelly, a GOP Representative who also voted against the Marriage Amendment. Below is his rousing and passionate speech against discrimination and for equality.

While Minnestoa Log Cabin Republicans are very dissapointed with the Minnesota GOP for support the amendment to ban same-sex marriage, we are thankful for the “Fantastic Four,” the four Republican members of the Minnesota GOP House Caucus who voted against the amendment. Below is a speech given by one of those Four, John Kriesel urging the body to vote against the amendment. It is a moving speech and it gives us hope. Thank you, Rep. Kriesel.

On the floor of the state senate last week, the sponsor of an amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman was asked by a colleague how the amendment would protect her marriage:

For the full context of the exchange between the senators, see here.  The state senate then voted to pass the amendment, 38–27.

URGENT REQUEST – Please follow the link to e-mail the MN House GOP caucus. It’s imperative that they hear from Republicans opposed to the marriage amendment. Share the link with your friends. It only takes a couple minutes. Do it tonight!

Minnesota Action Center-Log Cabin Republicans