Same-sex marriage in Minnesota

Legal history

Lawsuits

Baker v. Nelson was the first case in the history of the United States in which a same-sex couple sued for marriage rights. In late 1971, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision to prohibit marriages between same-sex partners, noting that its interpretation of state law did not violate the Constitution of the United States.Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "Full Equality, a diary", (volume 2ab), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.

• Letter addressed to Gerald R. Nelson, Clerk of District Court, from George M. Scot, County Attorney. "The consequences of an interpretation of our marriage statutes which would permit males to enter into the marriage contract could be to result in an undermining and destruction of the entire legal concept of our family structure in all areas of law." May 1970, page 6."Minnesota Statutes Annotated", West Publishing Co. (1970)
• Chapter 517.01: Marriage a civil contract. "Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential."
• Chapter 517.03: Marriages prohibited. [The list does not include parties of the same gender.] The U.S. Supreme Court accepted their appeal but declined to review the case.Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America's First Gay Marriage" (binder #3), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
• October Term, 1972: "Appellee's Motion to Dismiss Appeal and Brief" by George M. Scott, County Attorney
• page 7: "Questions Raised by This Appeal Are Moot". On October 10, 1972, a one-sentence order said, "The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question." In early 1971, the couple in question, Michael McConnell and Jack Baker, re-applied in Blue Earth County and obtained a marriage license. Baker's name change to Pat Lyn may have encouraged county officials to assume they were a heterosexual couple. Reverend Roger Lynn, a minister from the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, conducted the ceremony at a private home. Because the license was never revoked,Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America's First Gay Marriage" (binder #4), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries.
• Fifth Judicial District, File #07-CV-16-4559;
  • 18 September 2018: CONCLUSIONS OF LAW by Assistant Chief Judge Gregory Anderson, at 4; available online from U of M Libraries.
  • . . . "The September 3, 1971 marriage of James Michael McConnell and Pat Lyn McConnell, a/k/a Richard John Baker, has never been dissolved or annulled by judicial decree and no grounds currently exist on which to invalidate the marriage."
  • "The marriage is declared to be in all respects valid". their wedding became the earliest same-sex marriage ever to be recorded in the public files of any civil government.

Responding to the Supreme Court ruling, delegates at the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) State Convention in June 1972 voted to add a plank to the party platform supporting same-sex marriage rights.Source: resolution 71.d; Richard Moe (Chairman), "The 1972 DFL Platform", Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor State Central Committee (9-11 June 1972 at Rochester, MN)

• Mocked by leadership as the "lunatic fringe", admired by peers. This is the first known case of support by a major United States political party for same-sex marriage, though it is worth noting that many DFL state representatives disassociated themselves from the plank and the DFL party rules subsequently changed to make amendments to the party platform much harder to achieve for future conventions.

In May 2010, Marry Me Minnesota, a gay rights organization, sued the state of Minnesota, challenging the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in 1997. The trial court dismissed the suit in March 2011, citing Baker v. Nelson as "binding precedent". Marry Me Minnesota, founded by same-sex couples for the purpose of suing the state, announced plans to appeal the decision.

Attempts to pass constitutional ban

Main article: 2012 Minnesota Amendment 1

In 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009, bills were introduced to the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate to have voters consider an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution, restricting marriage to unions between "a man and a woman" and outlawing civil unions that offer comparable rights.

On May 11, 2011, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill by 37 votes to 27 to place a proposed amendment to the State Constitution on the ballot that would ban same-sex marriage, though not civil unions. It passed the House ten days later 70–62. The question presented to voters on the ballot on November 8, 2012 read: "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?" The amendment was defeated by voters, making Minnesota the first U.S. state to reject a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Arizona rejected a ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions in 2006 but then adopted a ban on only same-sex marriages in 2008. Minnesota's constitutional amendment proposal was rejected by 51.9% of voters.

The amendment was opposed by the grassroot organization Minnesotans United for All Families. President Barack Obama also expressed his opposition to the amendment, as did Minnesota Vikings football player Chris Kluwe, who featured in numerous advertisements opposing the amendment. The main organization to support the amendment was Minnesota for Marriage, which was supported by the state's Roman Catholic bishops.

Same-sex marriage law

In 1997, the Minnesota Legislature passed a statutory ban on same-sex marriage, shortly after passage of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the United States Congress.

In late 2008, Senator John Marty, announced plans to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. On February 19, 2009, a bill to allow civil unions was introduced to the Minnesota House of Representatives, and sponsored by representatives Joe Mullery, Mindy Greiling, and Tom Tillberry. A same-sex marriage bill was introduced to the Minnesota Senate on March 5, 2009. Its authors were senators Scott Dibble, Linda Higgins, John Marty, Mee Moua, and Patricia Torres Ray. The bill failed to get a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In December 2012, Representative Alice Hausman and Senator Marty announced plans to introduce same-sex marriage legislation in 2013. They and legislative leaders expressed varying views on its prospects. In January 2013, Senator Dibble said Democrats planned to focus early in the session on "kitchen-table issues" of improving the economy and creating jobs and would wait at least a month or two before pressing for the legalization of same-sex marriage. On February 28, 2013, HF 1054, officially titled Marriage between two persons provided for, and exemptions and protections based in religious associations provided for, was introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.{{cite web|url = https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?view=chrono&f=HF1054&y=2013&ssn=0&b=house#actions|title = HF 1054 Status in the House for the 88th Legislature (2013 - 2014)

The law took effect on July 1, 2013, and Minnesota has recognized the validity of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions since then. The state began issuing its own marriage licenses to same-sex couples on August 1, 2013. Margaret Miles and Cathy ten Broeke were the first couple to be married in Minneapolis at midnight on August 1, in a ceremony officiated by Mayor R. T. Rybak at Minneapolis City Hall. The definition of marriage in the state of Minnesota is now the following:

Native American nations

The Indian Civil Rights Act, also known as Public Law 90–284 (; ), primarily aims to protect the rights of Native Americans but also reinforces the principle of tribal self-governance. While it does not grant sovereignty, the Act affirms the authority of tribes to govern their own legal affairs. Consequently, many tribes have enacted their own marriage and family laws. As a result, the 2013 state law and the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling did not automatically apply to tribal jurisdictions. Same-sex marriage is legal on the reservations of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, three Ojibwe tribes forming part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, as well as the Prairie Island Indian Community, a Dakota tribe. The Prairie Island Indian Community Domestic Relations Ordinance, enacted in October 2022, states that "[t]wo persons of the same or opposite gender may marry". The first same-sex marriage on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation was performed on November 15, 2013 for Arnold and Matthew Dahl-Wooley.

Native Americans have deep-rooted marriage traditions, placing a strong emphasis on community, family and spiritual connections. While there are no records of same-sex marriages being performed in Native American cultures in the way they are commonly defined in Western legal systems, many Indigenous communities recognize identities and relationships that may be placed on the LGBT spectrum. Among these are two-spirit individuals—people who embody both masculine and feminine qualities. In some cultures, two-spirit individuals assigned male at birth wear women's clothing and engage in household and artistic work associated with the feminine sphere. Historically, this identity sometimes allowed for unions between two people of the same biological sex. The Ojibwe refer to two-spirit people as niizh manidoowag (), a term that inspired the modern umbrella term "two-spirit". Many niizh manidoowag were wives in polygynous households. They are known as wiŋkta () in the Dakota language. Many wiŋkta married cisgender men without indication of polygyny, but some remained unmarried and lived in their own tipis, and were visited by married men for sexual intercourse when the men's wives were pregnant or menstruating, and therefore when sexual intercourse was forbidden to them.

Economic impact

The Williams Institute estimated in April 2013 that if marriage were extended to same-sex couples in Minnesota, the state would see an economic boost of $42 million over the course of three years, with a boost of $27 million in the first year alone. This net impact would be the result of savings in expenditures on state means-tested public benefit programs and an increase in state income and sales tax revenue.

Demographics and marriage statistics

Approximately 1,640 same-sex couples married in Minnesota from August to September 2013, representing about one-third of all marriages performed during that time. 75% of same-sex marriage licenses were issued in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Approximately 1,433 marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples in the twelve counties that rejected Minnesota Amendment 1 in 2012. Of the counties that favored the amendment, Clay County issued the most licenses at 31.

The Minnesota State Demographer's office estimated that there were 8,594 married same-sex couple households in the state in July 2016. The 2020 U.S. census showed that there were 10,049 married same-sex couple households (4,240 male couples and 5,809 female couples) and 7,808 unmarried same-sex couple households in Minnesota.

Domestic partnerships

Eighteen cities in Minnesota, covering a total population of more than one million, have domestic partnership registries allowing unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples the right to obtain a certificate signifying that they are not related by blood and are committed to each other. Minneapolis was the first city to establish a domestic partnership registry in the state in 1991, followed by Duluth (2009), St. Paul (2009), Edina (2010), Rochester (2010), Maplewood (2010), Golden Valley (2010), St. Louis Park (2011), Red Wing (2011), Richfield (2011), Shoreview (2011), Robbinsdale (2011), Falcon Heights (2011), Hopkins (2011), Shorewood (2011), Crystal (2011), Eagan (2012), and Eden Prairie (2012).

Public opinion

References

References

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