Clergy, others
protest proposed Minnesota marriage ban

At a rally Thursday in front of the state capitol in St. Paul, Minn., more than 1,000 people--including at least 60 clergy members from across the state--turned out to protest a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Organized primarily by faith leaders along with gay rights group OutFront Minnesota, many of the speakers decried religious conservatives' domination of the issue, reports the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. "I'm here out of my faith," the Reverend Tim Tennant-Jayne, an ordained United Methodist minister, said at the rally. He said that he and fellow supporters of marriage equality "haven't been as loudly a part of this. Conservative viewpoints have been very loud." Another speaker, the Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde of St. John the Baptist Episcopalian Church in Minneapolis, said that those who want to ban same-sex marriage "claim this amendment protects families and protects marriage. We know it would do no such thing." She added that issues like unemployment and homelessness damage the institution of marriage more than any same-sex union could. The amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage across the state, has yet to come to a full senate vote, thanks to majority leader Dean Johnson of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, who dropped by the rally and received enthusiastic applause. (The Advocate)