The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA),also referred to by proponents as the Marriage Protection Amendment,was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would legally define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The FMA would also prevent judicial extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Paul Koering is a Minnesota politician who serves on the County Board of Crow Wing County,Minnesota. He is a former member of the Minnesota Senate from Fort Ripley. A Republican,he represented District 12,which includes all or portions of Crow Wing and Morrison counties,including the city of Brainerd. A liquor store owner,funeral car service owner,and small farmer,he served two terms,but was defeated by former Rep. Paul Gazelka in the August 10,2010,Republican primary election. He was elected to the Crow Wing County Board in 2012 and re-elected unopposed in 2016;he represents the first district which contains the southern portion of Crow Wing County,including Fort Ripley,Roosevelt Township,Oak Lawn Township and the extreme northeast portion of the city of Brainerd.
This article contains a timeline of significant events regarding same-sex marriage and legal recognition of same-sex couples worldwide. It begins with the history of same-sex unions during ancient times,which consisted of unions ranging from informal and temporary relationships to highly ritualized unions,and continues to modern-day state-recognized same-sex marriage. Events concerning same-sex marriages becoming legal in a country or in a country's state are listed in bold.
Denise R. Dittrich is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2005 to 2012,representing District 47A,which included portions of the cities of Coon Rapids and Champlin in Anoka and Hennepin counties,which are part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Stephen M. Saland is an American attorney and politician. He was a Republican member of the New York State Senate,representing the 41st District from 1990 to 2012. Prior to his Senate tenure,Saland served in the New York State Assembly. Saland is notable as one of four Republican Members of the New York State Senate that voted in favor of the Marriage Equality Act in 2011. Following his vote for same-sex marriage,Saland lost his 2012 re-election bid to Democrat Terry Gipson. Since 2016,Saland has served on the board of the state Thruway Authority.
Julie A. Rosen is an American politician serving as a member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota,she represents District 23,which includes all or portions of Blue Earth,Faribault,Jackson,Le Sueur,Martin,Waseca,and Watonwan counties in the southern part of the state.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Illinois since a law signed by Governor Pat Quinn on November 20,2013 took effect on June 1,2014. Same-sex marriage legislation was introduced in successive sessions of the Illinois General Assembly from 2007 to 2013. It passed the Senate in February 2013,but legislators delayed a vote in the House while lobbying for votes until November 5,2013,when the House passed an amended version of the bill by a narrow margin. The Senate quickly approved the amended bill and Governor Quinn signed it into law on November 20. The law went into effect (statewide) on June 1,2014,with same-sex couples able to apply for marriage licenses and then marry after the mandatory one-day waiting period.
David Scott Dibble is an American politician serving as a member of the Minnesota Senate since 2003. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL),Dibble represents District 61,which includes parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County. From 2001 to 2003,he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Karen J. Clark is an American politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL),she represented District 62A,which included portions of the city of Minneapolis in the Twin Cities metropolitan area including portions of the Whittier,Phillips,Ventura Village,Seward,and Lyn-Lake neighborhoods. She was the longest serving openly lesbian member to serve in a state legislature in the United States. On December 8,2017,Clark announced in a press release that she would not be running for reelection.
Same-sex marriage has been fully recognized in the U.S. state of Minnesota since August 1,2013. Same-sex marriages have been recognized if performed in other jurisdictions since July 1,2013,and the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on August 1,2013. After 51.9% of state voters rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in November 2012,the Minnesota Legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill in May 2013,which Governor Mark Dayton signed on May 14,2013. Minnesota was the second state in the Midwest,after Iowa,to legalize marriage between same-sex couples,and the first in the region to do so by enacting legislation rather than by court order. Minnesota was the first state to reject a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage,though Arizona rejected one in 2006 that banned all legal recognition and later approved one banning only marriage.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Pennsylvania since May 20,2014,when a U.S. federal district court judge ruled that the state's 1996 statutory ban on recognizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Governor Tom Corbett announced the following day that he would not appeal the decision. Pennsylvania had previously prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriage by statute since 1996,but had never added such a ban to its State Constitution.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Delaware since July 1,2013. Governor Jack Markell signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage on May 7,2013,just hours after its passage in the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate. Though Rhode Island enacted legislation legalizing same-sex marriage before Delaware,on July 1,Delaware became the eleventh U.S. state,and the twelfth U.S. jurisdiction,to allow same-sex couples to marry,preceding Minnesota and Rhode Island by one month.
Glenn H. Gruenhagen is an American politician from Minnesota. He serves in the Minnesota Senate representing District 17,which includes Carver,McLeod,Meeker,and Sibley Counties. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota,Gruenhagen has been the subject of both state and national headlines for his opposition to homosexuality and gay marriage,his climate change denial,his opposition to vaccine mandates,his denial of the results of the 2020 United States elections at both the state and federal levels,and his proposal to require instruction in Minnesota high schools on the cause of "sickness,disease,pain,suffering,and death". Gruenhagen works as an insurance agent. He owns Gruenhagen Insurance and Financial Services in Glencoe.
Branden Petersen is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota,he represented District 35,which includes portions of Anoka County in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area. From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives representing District 49B.
Richard W. "Rich" Stanek is an American politician and former law enforcement officer who served as the sheriff of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office from 2007 to 2019.
Maine Question 1 was a voter referendum on an initiated state statute that occurred on November 6,2012. The referendum was held to determine whether or not to legalize same-sex marriage. The referendum passed with a 53-47% vote legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine.
David Myles FitzSimmons is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota,he represented District 30B in east-central Minnesota.
Mike Freiberg is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2013. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL),Freiberg represents District 43B in the central Twin Cities metropolitan area,which includes the cities of Golden Valley and Robbinsdale and parts of Hennepin County.
The Hawaii Marriage Equality Act of 2013 is legislation passed by the Hawaii State Legislature as Senate Bill 1 (SB1) and signed by Governor Neil Abercrombie which legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Prior to the bill's enactment,same-sex couples in the state of Hawaii were allowed to form civil unions or reciprocal beneficiary relationships;however,civil unions are both legally limited to civil officials in their performance and unrecognized by the federal government,and RBRs are even more limited by the rights and privileges accorded.
Athena Hollins is an American politician serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL),Hollins represents District 66B,which includes parts of Saint Paul in Ramsey County,Minnesota.
