A move in Minnesota to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage is causing a rift among state Republicans and some have formed an alliance to fight the party-supported effort to ban same-sex marriage, reports the
Star Tribune.
According to a report Friday in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, some of the state party’s oldest members and biggest contributors have come out publicly against the amendment, even though the party’s platform says marriage should be defined as the union between an man and woman.
“There’s nothing, absolutely nothing in my Republican value system that supports marriage bans,” businessman Wheelock Whitney, a longtime GOP donor and adviser, said according to the Star Tribune.
The paper also quoted Republican state Rep. John Kriesel as saying it makes no sense for the party to “fight against people’s happiness.”
Kriesel and Whitney were joined at a news conference by other Minnesota Republicans who also announced their plans to campaign against the marriage amendment when it comes before voters next year.
State GOP Chairman Tony Sutton told the newspaper that the party’s platform reflects Republican values, but not all Republicans agree with all on its various elements. “Debate is healthy, but at the end of the day,” Sutton said, the party as a political organization “stands behind and supports” passage of the amendment.
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