Jewish Community Leaders Speak Against Gay Marriage Amendment

In today's Star Tribune, three Jewish community leaders speak against amending the Minnesota Constitution:

As a religious minority, the Jewish community is intensely aware of the importance of the protections contained in federal and state constitutions. Historically, constitutions in America have served two complementary functions: the creation of government power and the protection of the people -- especially minorities -- from government power. Amending Minnesota's Constitution to injure a minority group is precisely the opposite of what constitutions are for and represents a dangerous break with American tradition and Minnesota values.

The amendment sets a frightening precedent. Once we use the Constitution to limit freedom, what minority group will be next to have rights stripped away by the very document that is supposed to protect us? If we have learned anything from Jewish history -- from Egyptian enslavement to the Holocaust -- it is that we must preserve the societal institutions that protect minorities even when we disagree with those minorities. Thus, even though not all Jews support same-sex marriage, we are united in our passionate commitment to maintaining the Minnesota Constitution as a source of freedom, and we oppose any effort to transform it into a document that abridges liberty.

As Jews, we also view this proposed amendment as a form of religious discrimination. The institution of marriage is recognized by government, not created by it, and this amendment would permanently prohibit our state from recognizing Jewish marriages.

Rabbis in two of the four major American Jewish denominations have been performing same-sex marriages for over a decade. A third denomination will consider blessing same-sex unions later this year. We understand that the citizens of our state may not yet be ready to embrace these marriages. But amending the Minnesota Constitution to forever prohibit recognition of these Jewish marriages flies in the face of Minnesota's long-standing tradition of religious pluralism.

Minnesota law today recognizes only opposite-sex unions. Our democracy is built on ongoing dialogue and discussion, and we hope that one day our fellow citizens will come to recognize, as our faith has, that members of the same sex should be permitted to marry. This amendment is undemocratic because its purpose is to cut off this dialogue in our state, to prevent future generations of Minnesotans from reaching different conclusions. We may have the power to amend the Constitution as proposed, but amending the Constitution to cut off debate is an abuse of that power.

I am fairly confident this attempt to amend the constitution is going nowhere this session. Another attempt to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote was defeated today. We need to be vigilant for the remainder of the session. But I also believe that this issue is beginning to play into the hands of political progressives. It has galvanized a variety of progressive religious communities who have organized and spoken out more forcefully this time. This has had the positive effect of helping the public see that there are Christians and Jews and Muslims who are accepting of gays and lesbians. In addition, the politicians who continue to push this issue look increasingly like right-wing crazies who are out of the mainstream and who can't let the legislature focus on the work that everyone else knows needs to be accomplished.