Campaign 2004 The race for president The race for Congress The guide to legislative races Resources Select A Candidate Democratic National Convention Photos John Trombley of the North Dakota Family Alliance Robert Uebel of Equality North Dakota Resources North Dakota Family Alliance Equality North Dakota Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

North Dakotans to vote on gay marriage ban
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
August 3, 2004

Residents of at least ten states will vote this fall on constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage. The list includes Ohio and Missouri, two states up for grabs in the presidential election. North Dakotans will also vote this fall on a constitutional amendment defining marriage. The North Dakota Family Alliance brought petitions to the Secretary of State today with more than 50,000 signatures, twice as many as they needed to get the issue on the November ballot. Political observers say the marriage issue will bring a surge of conservative voters to the polls.

Fargo, N.D. — Current North Dakota law defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman, but members of the North Dakota Family Alliance worry that's not good enough. The North Dakota Defense of Marriage Act is not being challenged in court, but the Family Alliance says it would only take one judge to overturn that law.

Same sex marriage is a difficult issue for many people to discuss, says Family Alliance President John Trombley. "There are a lot of North Dakotans, if you even mention the word homosexual, they blush and they turn around and they want to get out of the room. (But) We need to talk about these things," says Trombley.

	John Trombley of the North Dakota Family Alliance

The safest way to talk about same sex marriage is to focus on the sociological effects, says Trombley. He agrees for many people it's also a moral and religious issue, but Trombley thinks the argument against gay marriage is best made based on the potential effect on society.

Sociological research supports the definition of marriage as one man, one woman, says Trombley, who points to thousands of studies he says prove children fare better when they have a mother and a father.

Rejecting same sex marriage is not an attack on gay people, says Trombley, but an effort to stop the moral decline of a society.

"If a homosexual couple want to move in next door, well praise God. I live in a country that allows people to make those choices," says Trombley. "But what I fear is the decline of our society. If they are successful in redefining marriage, what's to prevent a new definition tomorrow that says hey, what about two brothers that love each other, or what about two sisters, or hey, what about a mother and her son, what about a father and his daughter, what about a boy and his dog?"

The proposed North Dakota constitutional amendment says, "Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman. No other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect."

The amendment would preclude legal protection for any same sex relationship, including civil unions.

The goal of the amendment is the complete rejection of same sex relationships, according to Equality North Dakota Chairman Robert Uebel. Equality North Dakota is a gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender advocacy group.

	Robert Uebel of Equality North Dakota

"When they go, 'This is about defining marriage,' I go, no it's not," says Uebel. "Read through the entire amendment. They're not content with having language that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. They want to make sure our relationships have no legal recognition and no legal protection. They are targeting us, using us for political gain to rile people up and get them to the polls in November so they vote for conservative candidates."

Equality North Dakota has far fewer resources than the Family Alliance, says Uebel, but will aggressively fight the proposed constitutional amendment.

"I think when we give them the facts and counter the shoddy, pseudo research our opponents like to rely on and their broad sweeping statements that are unsupported and just out and out false statements, I think that we can bring more people over to our side," says Uebel.

But political observers expect the marriage amendment to motivate large numbers of conservative voters. University of North Dakota Political Science Professor Mary Kweit expects the marriage amendment to pass, and she anticipates same sex marriage opponents will influence the overall election outcome.

"It's the kind of thing that can substantially affect turnout," says Kweit. "Since this of great concern to conservatives I think it may pull some people to the polls who might not have otherwise turned out and once they're there they're going to vote for other things on the ballot and they may affect other issues on the ballot and other candidates on the ballot."

Both sides in this contentious issue say they expect all political candidates in North Dakota will be forced to take a stand on the issue of same sex marriage in the coming weeks.

News Headlines

Related Subjects