Sen. Dean Johnson has called the marriage amendment "the great divider of the state." Where does he get his information?
A Mason Dixon poll shows that 65 percent of Minnesotans oppose same-sex marriage and 63 percent want to vote on the amendment. The same poll shows that 76 percent of Senate District 13 -- Johnson's home district -- want the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. If he truly believes his own headline that "the people are always right," then what group is he listening to? Not the majority.
The discussion around this issue is so important that it should cause you to question what you believe and why you believe it. Do you believe simply because you heard somebody say it, or is it truth that is revealed in your personal investigation?
Johnson says he does not support same-sex marriage, yet he has allowed the marriage amendment to be bottled up in the Senate Judiciary Committee for the last two years.
I ask you to cease with the parliamentary maneuvers and public smokescreens that provide cover for your refusal to allow an up or down vote on the Senate floor. Look what has happened in Canada. Upon legalizing same-sex marriage without the benefit of social science research and democratic deliberation, people who disagree with same-sex marriage are being threatened by government tax officials and called before the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal for promoting traditional marriage.
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Lastly, Senator Johnson, it's time to stop telling half-truths and come clean. We want straight answers. Will you allow the marriage amendment, as written, to reach the Senate floor for an up or down vote? Be the leader you were elected to be.
Brent Waldemarsen
Willmar
