Mayor Betsy Hodges of Minneapolis officiated at the wedding of two South Dakotans Saturday:
“Congratulations to this fabulous couple. Twenty-seven years together. Twenty-seven years of family. Twenty-seven years of love and commitment,” Mayor Betsy Hodges said at the ceremony.
Nancy and Jennie Rosenbrahn were married Saturday afternoon.
Mayor Betsy Hodges officiated their wedding at the Community of Christ Church in Minneapolis ["Mpls. Mayor Officiates Wedding for 2 S.D. Women," WCCO/CBS Minnesota, 2014.04.26].
The happy couple will now sue South Dakota to get their marriage recognized. Attorney General Marty Jackley stands ready to defend South Dakota's discrimination against committed non-heterosexual couples, saying the courts should not offer justice, only the voters. Governor Dennis Daugaard says his AG should defend South Dakota's injustice.
Goldwater Republican blogger John Tsitrian disagrees. He shouts "Mazel Tov!" and "Social Contract!" to the new couple and tells his fellow Republicans to revisit their principles:
...consider this additional thought from Goldwater's acceptance speech: "The beauty of the very system we Republicans are pledged to restore and revitalize, the beauty of this Federal system of ours is in its reconciliation of diversity with unity." I think it is indeed time for us Republicans to re-evaluate our basic assumptions, and I extend my gratitude, along with my heartfelt congratulations, to Mrs. and Mrs. Rosenbrahn for making this blessed event the catalyst for some long overdue considerations within the local GOP [John Tsitrian, "Mazel Tov...," The Constant Commoner, 2014.04.26].
Nancy, Jennie, bring on that lawsuit, and let's knock Jackley, Daugaard, and the rest of the SDGOP into some 21st-century consistency with their professed principles of liberty.
Maybe I should ask the Governor. He's at the Job Summit her in Mitchell today on the campus of Mitchell technical Institute
It looks like the taxpayer funded jobs program that the republican leadership proposes is just legal action for ole Marty. Keep the boy groomed for the hopeful transition after Daugaard. Lets hope Joe Lowe changes that.
Job Summit? Hmm... making South Dakota more inviting to gay couples looking for jobs would help the situation... sounds like you could have a relevant question for Dennis, Owen! Consider this quote from yesterday's Yankton paper:
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The jobs are there, but where are the workers?
Yankton, along with other communities across the state, are facing a skilled labor shortage.
In response to those needs, Gov. Dennis Daugaard will host a regional summit Tuesday at Mitchell Technical Institute. Yankton officials will play a leading role in the event, the first of six summits across the state this spring.
“We have abundant career opportunities and great employers to tout in South Dakota,” the governor said. “The biggest constraint on our economic growth is available labor supply. We must continuously review our current efforts to develop and expand our workforce” [Randy Dockendorf, "Officials Set for Jobs Summit," Yankton Press & Dakotan, 2014.04.28].
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Where are the workers? In states that offer good wages and more liberty to live and love the way they want.
Jerry, I think Joe Lowe has a strong commitment to civil rights. I heard him seethe last week at the idea that KKK members were out littering in the Black Hills on Easter.
I talked to Scott Pasiley and I found out that the program that is sending me to school to retrained because my job was sent overseas has been cut by the state. It's a Federal program but the businesses help pay for it through unemployment taxes.
You're looking to fill jobs with workers that are skilled but you kill a program that retrains workers for those positions?
Seems crazy
I'm waiting for the Governor to announce the next "stoning."
Barry, will you please clarify stoning. Please don't tell me you meant in the biblical sense. Other stoning used to be so much more fun,from what I remember of it.
We don't have any labor supply problem at all. Look at all the people flocking to North Dakota to fill that state's labor needs. Why? Employers there pay good money. The problem here is not with supply of labor, but with low wages. Labor is mobile, and workers are shuffling their feet to places they can earn a better living. As long as Gov. Daugaard keeps coddling the underpaying employers rather than telling them to raise their wages to competitive levels, people will continue to leave.
John Tristan's comments on gay marriage are incredible and motivating.
What he has said on this subject is applicable to other social issues we are dealing with today.
Thank you Mr. Tristan for the article and your courage.
Jackley? What a clown. Wanna-be gov tows the Repub line. This state is stuck in the 1950s. So much better when minorities knew their place, gays were in the closet, poor folks just died young and didn't need medical care, teachers and public employees didn't expect to get paid much,... Geez, SD, wake up! It's 2014!
I think that these two ladies are more than Mr. Jackley and Mr. Daugaard can handle. Our elected officials know they will lose this legal case, yet they will throw taxpayer money away fighting equality anyway.
Anybody know what ever happened to the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution?
The Ninth precedes it.
The Robrahn's story got pretty big play in the Star-Tribune in Minneapolis and every local tv news report.
The comments already made pretty much cover why people don't come to SD to work: Lousy pay, worker rights and benefits. Racial, political, gender, sexuality discrimination enabled by the state. Why on earth would anyone come to SD?
States like MN continue to see an influx of well-educated, highly skilled workers. Plus, to address Owen's comment, new and creative ways to build a homegrown, well skilled labor force. High taxes are not as important as the other issues.
SD has the means to do each of those things on a scale appropriate to SD. They'd get very similar results too. If the state government was just a bit progressive, rather than extremely regressive., what wonderful changes could happen!
Mayor Betsy Hodges got more votes than Governor Daugaard, who compared to her is just a smaller town mayor.
Mr. H, I am positive that young Ms. Wismer seethed just as bad about that nasty KKK business. No less than Mr. Lowe did she seethe. And she is far smarter on math and budgets and such in the government.
Make the State end of it the "Civil Union" leave "Marriage rites" to churches and give those with Civil Union Licenses the same benefits state and feds give married couples....such as paying a higher tax rate than singles filing separately.
But, that would get rid of it as a social issue and neither liberals nor conservatives want to do that. They might actually have to discuss serious issues of consequence then.
I've been proposing civil unions for all, and wedding ceremonies for churches. It's been out there for a long time. But Doug's right, especially for the Righties. Gay marriage makes a great wedge issue.
The Religious Rong introduced the topic *before* LBTG folks did. Bigots like Dobson/Falwell/etc led the charge because they recognized an enormous cash cow first. What do you think built Focus on the Family, Liberty University, etc?
Surprisingly to me, Republican leadership is recognizing that the demonizing of LBTG folks has played out. I wonder what they'll pick next for a religion/fear money suck?
The simple fact of the matter is government has no business deciding who can and who can not get married.