Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota

This is a call to arms. Come to the capitol building and join Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota to show your support. If you have a knack for lobbying, we could use your talents to assist with members in the House committee. LCR Members will be in the capitol as early as 9am.

Call 612-309-8058 or 612-644-8483 when you arrive and someone can help direct you.

Project 515 and OutFront Minnesota are collecting stories and photos of individual Minnesotans and families who are opposed to this constitutional amendment that would permanently ban marriage for same-sex couples. The stories will become part of a booklet that will be distributed to lawmakers as they prepare to vote on these amendments.  Please send stories of up to 500 words as soon as possible for inclusion in a booklet to be distributed to lawmakers next week, and include a photo (large enough to print on an 8.5 x11 sheet of paper) of your family. It’s important that lawmakers hear from Republicans both gay and straight, that support marriage equality. Be sure to tell them the city you live in. The real faces and stories of Minnesotans can help to change hearts and minds and help to move equality forward. Send stories and photos to info@mnlogcabin.org.

It’s been a long here in Minnesota as people from all walks of life speak out against the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.  Minnesota Log Cabin Republicans have been busy speaking with GOP legislators, making the case for equality and against discrimination.

While this past week has had more than its share of frustration, we have also seen some bright spots and we want to highlight two of them.  We salute State Representative John Kriesel (R-Cottage Grove) for speaking out against the marriage amendment.  Blog Cabin picks up the story:

Rep. John Kriesel called the bill, “Just wrong,” saying, he thought it sent the wrong message and that he didn’t believe that happiness should be denied to anyone because someone else doesn’t view it as normal. Kriesel, who lost his legs due to injuries sustained while stationed in Iraq said, “There is not anything that can move me on this.”

Minnesota Log Cabin is proud to have this Iraq War Veteran as our ally.  We hope that there are other equality-minded legislators in the State House who will stand with Rep. Kriesel.

On the Senate side, we are thankful for State Senator Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen).  On Friday morning she voted to table the Senate version of the amendment.  While the measure failed, allowing the bill to go the floor of the full Senate, we salute the Senator for her willingness to stand against discrimination. You can read a more detailed thank you by reading our press release on Senator Ortman’s bravery.

At the end of a long week, we thank these lawmakers and hope that other GOP leaders will come out the shadows and support marriage equality for all Minnesotans.

Moments ago, by a 65-31 vote, the Senate acted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy banning gays from openly serving in the military. The same six GOP senators who broke with their party during the cloture vote earlier also voted for repeal: Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, George Voinovich, and Mark Kirk. Republicans — John Ensign and Richard Burr — joined in to help pass the bill.

The bill will now make its way to the President’s desk for signing. The President has vowed to sign the law shortly paving the way for the process to begin rolling back the restrictions next year.

Read more here

Thanks again to everyone that has helped support our Republican allies and particularly to Log Cabin Republicans for all of their hard work!