A Celebration Today

Today Minnesota will become the 12th state legally sanctioning same-sex marriages. It's been a long, hard road with thousands of people phoning and knocking on doors, and lots of donations both large and small poured into ads and education, but we finally have success. Yesterday in a close vote of  37-30 the Minnesota Senate passed the Freedom to Marry Act after four hours of intense debate. More than 1000 people packed into the viewing galleries to watch the historic vote and cheers broke out as it passed. Governor Dayton will sign the bill into law on the steps of the capitol today at 5:00 pm and the ceremony will be followed by a concert and celebration.

Call me happy today! If I could I'd be there celebrating with
everyone else because the bestowal of human rights should
always be celebrated.

I'm thrilled with this result. I haven't had a lot of money to put into the campaign but I did what I could by talking about equal rights in my blog and promoting it where I could. I know that there are people out there who are against same-sex marriage, many who base their decisions based on various religious platforms. But marriage is far more than a religious joining. Marriage confers certain legal rights under the laws of the state and the nation - rights that were abrogated in Minnesota for same-sex couples. Marriage takes place in a civil arena of law and doesn't have to have any religious connotation or blessing. If the parties want and the religious institution/practitioner agrees, a marriage can be combined with a religious ceremony but it is a civil right and gives civil responsibilities.

Although "shotgun weddings" are considered humorous these days,
in the past they sometimes happened and people can be pressured
into marriage by family, friends, and situations such as pregnancy.

A marriage license is granted by the state in which the marriage will be held. It is signed, after an appropriate exchange of vows, by someone who is licensed by the state as being authorized to conduct the marriage. Witnesses also sign the Marriage License and all declare that both parties were willing participants, that they were of legal age, that their identities have been proven via accepted documentation and that, if they are underage, they have parental permission. Legal names are chosen and affixed in new signatures on the legal document. These names can be a switch of last names (usually the wife taking the last name of her new husband as her own), combination names (often hyphenated names, again usually only used by the wife but equally reasonable for both parties to use), or in some cases, totally new last names are chosen. These are entered onto the Marriage License and will become legally binding.

This Marriage License is from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Notice that in
the Solemnizer section, the location of the marriage ceremony is requested.
Nowhere on the license is there a religious mandate. The bottom is where the
sex of each of the participants is designated. Nice, clean, easy to understand and complete.

Rights are now conferred. Both good and bad, easy and not so easy rights now surround the newly wed couple. A legally married couple is a distinct legal entity and cannot now separate without going through an equally legal marriage annulment or a divorce. Property acquired while a couple will be considered to be jointly held and any children will be jointly raised. Physical property such as homes may be purchased jointly and will be considered joint property in any settlements in the future. A legal divorce will be much harder and more expensive than simply packing up and moving out. What the law gives in rights it also can take away, so civil unions require as much thought as any other legal union.

A civil union isn't quite the same as a marriage, but each of the points
raised in the chart above can be dealt with through individual
legislation if necessary. It would be nice if Freedom to Marry
covered all of these issues, but every step forward is another victory.

But will it be worth it? Oh yes. More than 300 laws will now have to be changed to recognize the new status of same-sex couples and with each change gay and lesbian couples will be one step closer to true equal rights with all other heterosexual couples in the state. It is my fondest hope that the Federal government will also pass marriage equality legislation, allowing our nation to actually be the bastion of freedom that we have claimed for so many years. But for now, I'll celebrate the fact that my state has moved in the direction of equal rights for all.

My cousin Miki and her partner Regina. Two beautiful ladies!

Hey, cousin...come up and get married! It would be wonderful to see you in person again!