The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful... by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people...
— Second Vatican Council
Do not assume that all Catholics are against gay marriage. The number of Catholics within the church that offer education and understanding for gays and lesbians is significant. They, too, hold marriage in high esteem, but they want it to be available to their gay and lesbian children also.
— Erma M. Durkin
All Minnesotans should have an equal opportunity to create their own family by making a public promise of love, commitment, shared responsibility and fidelity to the person they love.
— Paul Fleege, Co-founder, C4MEMN
I know that my son and his partner are made in the image and likeness of God. They are not perfect, but they are brilliant, creative, personable and moral. They are certainly not objectively disordered. I know, as do many fathers, mothers, grandparents, sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow parishioners of gay and lesbian individuals and couples, that the relationship, the love, the friendship, the personal association, the proximity, put a human face on this issue and let us see that in the context of the human spirit, none of us are different and none of us should be anything less than fully accepted members of our human community.
— Brian Cahill
I am fervently Catholic, proudly gay and happily married... to a wonderful woman. I stopped struggling to be straight many years ago when I came out. And I believe, with my whole heart, God made me who I am. I was not created to suffer through involuntary chastity. Nor was I made to label and think of myself as “disordered.”
— Karen Doherty
You live once in your life and so if someone finds someone they love and they’re happy with them, why are we trying to take that away? That’s not what government should be doing.
— State Representative John Kriesel (R-Cottage Grove)
American Catholics consistently poll higher on progressive social justice issues — including the freedom to marry for all. Our Catholic faith tradition is strongly based on social justice and our duty to take care of those who are unjustly oppressed and marginalized. Our families have already dealt with this issue at a personal level, and Catholics largely base their moral understanding of the world through their personal relationships, not by the dictates of institutional forces, be they from our church hierarchy in Rome or conservative political groups. We see healthy, happy gay and lesbian families within our families, parishes and communities, and we know love and commitment when we see it.
— Phil Attey
Our gay son is not a second class citizen. He is good and kind and intelligent and compassionate. Please realize what kind of message this amendment sends to our son and other gay and lesbian people. It tells them that they are not worthy of important rights that the rest of Minnesotans enjoy. The Constitution is meant to protect the civil rights of all Minnesotans. Please help us protect our son's rights by not supporting this amendment.
— Brent and Lisa Vanderlinden, Co-founders, C4MEMN
This is a debate about equality. It's a debate about the full inclusion in our democratic society of a group of citizens stigmatized by prejudice, who continue to be excluded from the social mainstream by legalized discrimination that impedes their ability to contribute, to pursue their careers and to raise families.
— William D. Lindsey
Gay people flourish as individuals when they accept themselves for who they are and live their lives accordingly. Indeed, human beings – gay or straight – flourish when they engage in and build relational lives that are experienced and expressed sexually. Actual sex acts are just one aspect of such relational lives. It’s the quality of these relationships that the Church should be concerned about, not so much who puts what body part where and with whom.
— Michael Bayly, Co-founder, C4MEMN
There have been other moments in our history when a dominant group saw fit to deprive others of their rights. Women’s rights and civil rights were long delayed by the majority vote of men who did not want to recognize them. The vote in 2012. . . won't be the first time a majority has sought to deprive a minority of rights the majority enjoys, but every previous instance has been judged harshly in the light of history.
— David Booth
We will replace the scorched-earth campaign tactics of our opponents with stories of the love, commitment, and responsibility at the core of our families. The only thing this whole debate is about is whether people are able to have access to the things that keep all families strong – economic, legal, and civil protections.
— State Senator Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis)
People today – including Catholics – know that sex serves more than one final “end”. To be sure, procreation is an inherent aspect of sexuality. But there is more to sex than that, especially when we look at sex in human beings. Procreation is an animal function. In humans, sex is taken up into a new array of purposes. Human sex involves emotional bonding and the dreams and promises of lovers. That is to say, beyond the physical, human sex also involves the psychological and the spiritual...
The trend of sex is toward higher things. And since the spiritual dimension of human sexual sharing is the highest and most significant, it is what determines the unique nature of human sexuality, so it is what must be preserved in every case. Not procreation, but genuine care and loving are the non-negotiables of human sex.
— Catholic theologian Daniel Helminiak
Anything other than marriage is, in essence, a stigmatization of same-sex couples. Stigma does have negative impacts on people. That's the analysis that we've come to and why we've decided to support full marriage equality – because domestic partnership or civil union will still convey the message that same-sex couples are not as good.
— Dr. Clinton Anderson, APA Associate Executive Director
