Latest news with #HouseConcurrentResolution3013
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Dakota lawmakers hear emotional testimony on resolution against same-sex marriage
Bradley King of Bismarck holds up a photo of his daughter and her wife during a committee hearing on a resolution opposing same-sex marriage on March 12, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) A North Dakota Senate committee voted 6-1 Wednesday to not issue a recommendation on a House resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage. Sen. Ryan Braunberger, D-Fargo, the only vote against the recommendation, said he wants voters to know exactly where he stands on the issue. He also pointed out the organization supporting the resolution, MassResistance, has been labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group. 'I want my constituents to know that I disagree with this wholeheartedly,' Braunberger said. 'This bill is coming from a place of hate.' Supporters and opponents of House Concurrent Resolution 3013, sponsored by Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, delivered pointed, and at times emotional, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The resolution asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which has protected same-sex marriage. The resolution passed the House on a 52-40 vote in February. 'It's past time for North Dakota citizens to speak their displeasure with this Supreme Court decision and call for restoration of the definition of marriage as only of the legal union between a man and a woman,' Tveit said. North Dakota resolution urging end to same-sex marriage advances Arthur Schaper, a field director for MassResistance, testified remotely during the hearing. 'It is a crime against nature to teach anyone that they are born homosexual or transgender,' Schaper told lawmakers. 'These patterns of behavior are inherently harmful to individuals and they should not be granted a privileged status in marriage.' MassResistance was labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the GLAAD Accountability Project, an organization that catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions taken by lawmakers, religious leaders and organizations. More than 330 people submitted testimony on the measure ahead of the public hearing, most opposing the resolution. The first person to testify in opposition to the resolution Wednesday was Rep. Matt Ruby, R- Minot, who voted in support of the measure when it passed the House – a decision he told the committee he now regrets. 'I knew before we were done with that floor session that I had made a mistake,' Ruby said. 'I've regretted a lot of votes over my four sessions. This is the first time I've been disappointed with myself over a vote.' He added he hopes the Senate can defeat Tveit's resolution. Bradley King of Bismarck testified in opposition to the measure and said he raised his family here because he thought it was a great place to have children. King held up a picture of his daughter, a middle school teacher, and her wife. He told the committee members how proud he was to walk her down the aisle and that her marriage isn't hurting anybody. 'Right now, you are looking at one angry father,' King said. 'I personally feel that this is an attack on my daughter.' After 45 minutes of testimony from each side, the hearing was closed and members decided to send the resolution to a vote of the full Senate without a committee recommendation. Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, said she and many other lawmakers had been getting hateful emails and messages leading up to the hearing. 'I just think it's disgusting on either side, doesn't matter what side it is,' Myrdal said. Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, chair of the committee, reiterated that the Legislature needs to take up all bills for final votes in each chamber, regardless of their content. Rep. Austin Foss, D-Fargo, who strongly advocated against the resolution before it passed in the House, was among those who attended the committee hearing. 'I'm emotionally beat. You saw some real hatred, real hatred from the true bill sponsor, which is MassResistance,' Foss said after the hearing. 'It's very, very outdated ideas that I thought we had put to bed, but I guess not, so that was really hard to hear.' Foss said he's been hearing unacceptance and hatred for his whole life and had little sympathy for lawmakers receiving angry phone calls for the last week. 'I've also gotten hate when I was door knocking, when I was campaigning. I got hate from people for just being who I am,' he said. 'That hatred coming from those individuals, we deal with that every day.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Dakota resolution urging to end same-sex marriage advances
Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, speaks during a Jan. 27, 2025, committee hearing. On Feb. 24, 2025, Tveit advocated for a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) The North Dakota House of Representatives passed a resolution Monday proclaiming the interpretation of marriage as between one man and one woman. The measure passed on a 52-40 vote and will advance to the Senate for its consideration. House Concurrent Resolution 3013, sponsored by Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, urges the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which has protected same-sex marriage for the last decade. Tveit told lawmakers that marriage had always been between a man and a woman until 10 years ago and said the country would not be able to perpetuate itself without men and women having children. 'As you are well aware, two cannot conceive or birth a child except for coming together of a female and a male,' Tveit said. 'Based on the laws of nature, it's just that simple.' While the Supreme Court does have the ability to interpret laws, the resolution states, it doesn't give justices the power to 'legislate from the bench to enact policy decisions.' 'If same-sex couples desire a collaborative union of a sort, or a legal bonding, they must call it anything but marriage,' Tveit said. During debate on the resolution, Rep. Austin Foss, D-Fargo, said he never thought one year after marrying the man he loves in North Dakota that he would have to fight for their right to exist. 'This hurts,' Foss said. 'I don't come into your church, into your home, and force you to relabel your relationship just because I don't agree with it.' He added, if the Supreme Court does overturn the previous ruling, same-sex couples would lose tax incentives and parental rights. Military families would lose rights to spousal benefits and they could also lose end-of-life rights, which could lead to them being discounted when making important decisions involving their partners. 'I cannot imagine my husband at the end of his road, in his hospital bed dying, and I would have no rights to any decision-making on how that moves forward,' Foss said. Foss said he knows the measure was a resolution that won't change North Dakota law, but the message it sends to members of the LGBTQ community is that they are not welcome. 'It's a message to the world that North Dakota, if you are like me, you are not welcome here,' Foss said. 'If you don't conform to the ideas that we have about creating a family, you are not welcome here. That's not North Dakota nice. That's not even Christian-like.' In an interview after the vote, Foss said he took a little solace in the fact that the vote was close and hopes calmer heads and allies prevail in the Senate. 'I am a North Dakotan and for somebody to tell me that I'm not, it hurts,' Foss said. He added he did not speak to Tveit about the resolution before the floor vote. 'I will say that the support I received from those Republicans that did vote no on it has been helpful and nice,' he said. If the resolution is passed by the Senate, it would be forwarded to the United State Supreme Court. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
