A moving speech on marriage equality

I’m a newcomer to Minnesota, having lived here only 9 months. But one thing that has made me proud to be a new Minnesotan is how this state has handled the issue of marriage equality. In the November 2012 election, Minnesotans defeated at the polls a proposed state constitutional amendment banning on same-sex marriage. And yesterday, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Today, on Minnesota Public Radio, they were replaying speeches made in debate the Minnesota house yesterday during the floor debate before the historic vote. One speech, made Rep. Tim Faust, who is a Lutheran pastor, was particularly moving:

The Minnesota Senate will vote on the bill Monday, and should it pass (which is expected), our governor has promised to sign it. While I’m not going to celebrate too much until the bill passes the Senate, it’s appearing more and more likely that next week Minnesota will become the 12th state in the union to have marriage equality.