Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton will
march in Sunday's 40th annual Twin Cities Pride parade in
downtown Minneapolis.
Dayton marched as governor in last
year's parade, which drew a crowd of over 125,000 revelers.
Opponents of putting Minnesota's law
banning gay nuptials in the Minnesota Constitution hope to galvanize
a base of thousands over the weekend to attempt to win the November
ballot fight.
“Passing this amendment and limiting
their freedom to call their marriage a marriage and limiting their
church's freedom to perform that same marriage doesn't bode well with
me,” Matt Abbott, a volunteer gathering signatures for Minnesotans
United for all Families, the group working to defeat the measure,
told CBS affiliate WCCO.
“Getting something in folks' hands … makes it real.”
Dayton has emerged as a leading
opponent of the amendment.
In April, Dayton told a crowd of
supporters at the state capitol that he had a dream that Minnesota
would become the first state in the nation to reject a gay marriage
ban.
“I think Minnesota's better than
that,” he
said.
The parade kicks off at 11AM.