In this video, Madeline Koch (no relation, I'm guessing), a young Republican, tells Republican Minnesota State Senators that there is no place for bigotry in the Republican Party of the future, and there should not be any room for it now.
Some excerpts:
This amendment ... is not only wrong in a moral sense, but takes our party in the wrong direction...
... I don't believe that equal rights for same sex couples, or anyone, is a partisan issue...
... this is not the direction that our state, or our nation, should be headed... In fact, amongst my generation there's no doubt that equal rights for all Minnesotans is absolutely necessary for the good of our state...
The need for equality and the full acceptance of GLBT people is something Minnesota's next generation of leaders has already accepted.
Too bad they won't listen. The Republican-majority Minnesota Legislature is salivating on the prospect of passing a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. If they do, the question would go on the ballot in November of 2012. If the people of Minnesota were to approve it by majority vote it would become part of the Minnesota Constitution.
There's been no polling in Minnesota on this particular amendment, nor even on the general issue of same-sex marriage (at least that I can find). I have little doubt, however, that this amendment, should it be put to a vote, is not going to be passed easily (except, of course, in Michele (R-BI) Bachmann's district). I suspect the public does not favor it and will not be happy with having to deal with it in 2012.
The rallying cry the bigots have long been using:
"Let the people vote!"
may come back to haunt them in 2012.