Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has
pledged to fight an effort to ban gay marriage with “every fiber of
my being,” the Star-Tribune reported.
Dayton made his remarks a day before
the Minnesota House was expected to consider a constitutional
amendment sponsored by Republican Representative Steve Gottwalt that
would define marriage as a heterosexual union.
The Democratic governor acknowledged
that his hands are tied on whether the amendment reaches the ballot
box next year, but warned the move was “ill advised” and
predicted voters would reject it.
“I think Minnesotans have much more
compassion and understanding than they recognize and I think it will
be defeated next year,” Dayton told reporters.
The Senate has already approved the
measure. But the House delayed an expected vote on Thursday and then
again on Friday. The chamber must act by Monday, the last day of
the legislative session.
An
ally of the legislation might have unwittingly pushed back Friday's
vote.
An opening prayer by the anti-gay
pastor Bradlee Dean, in which he suggested President Barrack Obama
and Democrats were not Christians, created a firestorm of protest,
forcing House Republicans to retreat for an hour before reconvening
the session. House Speaker Kurt Zellers said he was “offended at
the presence of Bradlee Dean on the floor of the Minnesota House of
Representatives.”
On Thursday, opponents
of the measure released a compilation of sound bites from testimony
heard on the amendment.