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Michele Bachmann threatens to leave Minnesota if equal marriage bill passes

by Joseph Patrick McCormick
13 May 2013, 7:25pm


Republican Michele Bachmann, has threatened to leave the US state of Minnesota, if its Senate votes to legalise equal marriage today.

A member of the US House of Representatives for Minnesota, Bachmann has threatened to leave the state, if equal marriage were to become law.

Speaking to local television station KSTP-TV this morning Bachmann said: ”Homosexuality is a sin, and God will punish communities that support it.

“Sodom and Gomorrah thought they could defy the will of God – and we all know what happened to them. If the governor signs this legislation into law the Minneapolis-St. Paul region will be next.

“I have a friend from Eden Prairie who’s already packed everything she owns into her car and is driving out to Montana as we speak. These are very scary times. I don’t want my family to be the last ones out.”

Today the Senate in the US state of Minnesota is to vote on a bill to legalise equal marriage. Leaders in the Senate have already said they had already gathered enough votes to pass the bill.

If the bill passes in the Senate on Monday, Democratic Governor Mark Dayton could sign it into law as early as this week, and same-sex weddings could begin to take place in August.

The House of Representatives in the US state of Minnesota passed the bill to legalise equal marriage on Thursday, with a clear majority in favour.

The final vote was 75 to 59, following a two-hour debate around the issue. It will now move to the Senate, which will take up the issue on Monday.

Among the opposition was Republican Representative Peggy Scott, who said she was brought to tears by the prospect of same-sex couples being allowed to marry.

Leading up to the vote, thousands of supporters and opponents of equal marriage gathered outside the House. During the debate, opponents to the measure argued that it was “not the time” for the measure, but its proponents denied they were “destroying” marriage, and said they were to “uphold it for all”.

In November 2012, Minnesotan voters avoided a constitutional ban on marriage equality, and pro-equality campaigners have since stepped up efforts to push for equal marriage to be legalised.

A group opposed to equal marriage in the state has pledged half a million dollars to defeat any Republican legislator voting to legalise marriage equality.

On 6 November, voters in Minnesota voted ‘no’ on Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as being a union solely between a man and a woman.

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