The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Your View

September 14, 2012

Your View: Voting ‘no’ will keep the conversation going

Samantha Haseltine, St. Peter

If you saw me on the street you’d probably say, “There goes a normal person.”

I’ve graduated from college, have a job, go to church and own a house. Like most Minnesotans, I spend my summers celebrating at weddings, barbecuing with family and friends and working in the garden. This summer has also been full of conversations about why family and marriage are important to me, and why I plan on voting “no” this November on an amendment that would limit the freedom to marry.

I’ve been in a committed same-sex relationship for over six years and I, too, would love to marry my partner someday.

A friend of mine says, “The law should be for everyone, not just a few,” and I agree. Same-sex couples should legally be able to be a family just like everyone else.

Voting no won’t give my partner and I the freedom to get married, but it will keep the conversation going.

On election day, we will have to decide whether we want to exclude committed same-sex couples from celebrating their love with their friends and family through a lifelong promise of marriage. I plan on continuing to talk to my family, friends and neighbors about the freedom-limiting amendment before then, and I encourage you to do the same. No one would want to be told it is illegal to marry the person they love.

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