SurveyUSA released a new poll today that focused heavily on the new Vikings stadium. I’m sick of talking about the Vikings, but if you’re interested, TonyAngelo has some analysis of that at MN Progressive Project.

I was struck by one of the few questions that wasn’t about the stadium. It shows that a majority of Minnesotans support equal marriage:

President Obama says that same-sex couples should be able to get married. Do you agree with the president? Or disagree?

• Agree 52%
• Disagree 42%
• Not Sure 6%

This is a big deal, in light of the anti-marriage amendment that will be on the ballot in Minnesota in 2012. A majority of registered Minnesota voters support equal marriage. Of course, we should take this result with a grain of salt, especially since the SurveyUSA poll has a pretty small sample size. On the other hand, the 10-point spread is outside the poll’s fairly large margin of sampling error, so it may very well be accurate.

What’s more, the poll may actually understate opposition to the anti-marriage amendment. It seems reasonable to me that there will be some in Minnesota who oppose equal marriage, but will also oppose the anti-marriage amendment for various reasons.  

I recognize that this poll doesn’t really square with a few other polls that have been released previously showing a slight edge in favor of the amendment. Maybe it’s the wording. Maybe it’s the sample — cell-phone respondents, for example, support marriage by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. But maybe, just maybe, it’s a sign that Minnesotans will stand up for all families in November.

Yesterday, Barack Obama continued his “evolution” on gay marriage, which has always been his way of saying that he supports equality but doesn’t want to say so for political reasons. He took a big step yesterday, but not a big enough one:

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states’ deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

I guess I should be happy he’s taken even this step, but I’m tired of settling for “good enough.” I’m tired of Democrats playing cynical political games, trying to follow the polls, and always behaving as if they need to trick Americans into voting for them. I want leaders with the courage to stand up for their convictions and convince the American people that they’re right.

Instead, Obama waited to “evolve” until the polls showed a slight majority in favor of equality. Even worse, he’s still partially ducking the issue, saying it should be up to the individual states whether to make gays and lesbians second-class citizens.

We have an obligation as a nation to extend equal rights to all our citizens. We should never hold a vote on which groups of Americans are deserving of full citizenship and which are not. If the president truly supports equal marriage, he needs to go farther than saying that he supports it personally but is totally fine with individual states denying their citizens equal rights. This is too important an issue for that cop-out.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

If you’re employed full-time, you should be able to get health benefits for your family members.

I think almost all of us would agree with that. If you’re working a full-time job, you should be able to provide for your family, and health benefits are a major part of the equation.

Now let me ask another question: Does the sexual orientation of those family members matter? Is it reasonable that you should be able to get health coverage for a heterosexual partner, but not for a homosexual partner? I can’t imagine why it should matter to your employer who your partner is. That would be like saying they won’t cover your gay son or daughter — the very idea is absurd and offensive.

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Yet another victory for equal marriage!

A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland was approved by the state Senate, which advanced a measure that narrowly cleared the House of Delegates last week.

The final vote by the state Senate ended a yearlong drama in Annapolis over the legislation, and marked the first time an East Coast state south of the Mason-Dixon line has supported gay nuptials.

With the vote, the measure moves to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who has said he will sign it. [Washington Post, via Political Wire]

After O’Malley signs the bill in Maryland, eight states plus Washington, D.C. will allow equal marriage.

As always when I report on the spread of equal rights, my immediate next thought is shame that our own state is moving backwards. We were once leaders when it came to equality and civil rights. Now, while states around the country are extending equal rights to their citizens, conservatives want us to do just the opposite. That’s just not right. We should be among those states embracing families of all types and honoring their commitments.

Yesterday, Senator Jeff Hayden (DFL-Minneapolis) attempted to remove the anti-marriage amendment from the 2012 ballot. Unsurprisingly, the attempt was voted down on party lines. Watch the video below, courtesy of The UpTake:

After a decade in which dozens of states passed anti-marriage laws and constitutional amendments, the momentum has reversed. The number of states that accept equal marriage is growing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the pace of acceptance accelerate in the years to come.

The latest state to allow equal marriage is Washington, where a bill just passed the legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, we’re still fighting a decade-old culture war over a constitutional amendment banning equal marriage, which is already banned by law. While other states are extending rights to more of their citizens, we’re going to poke the gay and lesbian community in the eye by denying them equal rights a second time. Minnesota conservatives want us to loudly reaffirm to all gay Minnesotans that they are second-class citizens.

Is anyone else ashamed to see Minnesota moving backwards like this? We were once leaders when it came to equality and civil rights. Now, while states around the country are extending equal rights to their citizens, conservatives want us to do just the opposite. That’s just not right. We should be among those states embracing families of all types and honoring their commitments. 

A Public Policy Polling poll [PDF] released on Friday showed once again the constitutional amendment that would ban equal marriage in Minnesota will be extraordinarily close. The bad news is that the poll currently shows the amendment ahead. There’s a lot of good news, too, though.

Q2. Should the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?

• Yes: 48% 
• No: 44% 
• Not sure: 8% 

The amendment, while ahead, is within the margin of error. It also currently doesn’t have the 50 percent it would need to pass. All constitutional amendments must receive 50 percent of all votes cast, so not voting is the equivalent of a “no” vote. As I’ve written before, I believe the amendment will only lose support, not gain it, and undecideds will break heavily against the amendment.

There’s more good news, too. Minnesotans overwhelmingly support legal recognition of same-sex unions. When asked about civil unions as well as marriage, a whopping 71 percent support some form of legal union. I’d be quite surprised if at least some of the folks who support civil unions couldn’t be brought to support equal marriage.

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This is great news:

[Washington] Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday said she’ll put forward legislation to legalize marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

The proposal will be introduced during the legislative session that starts Monday. If it’s approved, Washington would become the seventh state to legalize gay marriage. [Seattle Times, via Political Wire]

I hope Washington will do the right thing and legalize marriage for all. And I hope that soon, Minnesota will follow in their footsteps.