Politics | Page 70

Color image of civil rights leader Julian Bond and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton confering at a rally held to demonstrate opposition to Minnesota Marriage Amendment 1. Photographed by Bobak Ha’Eri on June 19, 2012.

Julian Bond and Mark Dayton

Civil rights leader Julian Bond and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton confer at a rally held to demonstrate opposition to Minnesota Marriage Amendment 1. Photographed by Bobak Ha’Eri on June 19, 2012.

Minnesota for Marriage logo

Design used to promote the group Minnesota for Marriage.

Minnesota United for All Families t-shirt

Issued by Minnesotans United for All Families, a coalition that opposed passage of the 2012 Minnesota Marriage Amendment. The amendment would have limited marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Minnesota Marriage Amendment yard sign

Cardboard lawn sign distributed by Minnesotans United for All Families in opposition to the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, proposed in 2012.

Color image of Demonstrators gather at the State Capitol in St. Paul to show their support of Minnesota Amendment 1. Photographed on May 20, 2011, by Flickr user Tom Morris.

Amendment supporters at the State Capitol

Demonstrators gather at the State Capitol in St. Paul to show their support of Minnesota Amendment 1. Photographed on May 20, 2011, by Flickr user Tom Morris.

Color image of demonstrators gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul to show their opposition to Minnesota Amendment 1. Photographed on May 20, 2011, by Flickr user Flickr user Fibonacci Blue.

Amendment opponents at the State Capitol

Demonstrators gather at the State Capitol in St. Paul to show their opposition to Minnesota Amendment 1. Photographed on May 20, 2011, by Flickr user Fibonacci Blue.

Representative Terry Morrow (DFL)

Minnesota Representative Terry Morrow (DFL) speaks on the House floor against SF 1308. Photographed on May 20, 2011, by Flickr user Tony Webster.

On November 6, 2012, Minnesota voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution. Minnesota Amendment 1, also called the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, would have limited marriage to heterosexual couples. When the amendment failed to pass, Minnesota became the first and only state to reject a "same-sex marriage" ban through the will of voters rather than a court ruling.

John McGee

John McGee, 1918. Photograph by the Lee Brothers.

McGee, John Franklin (1861–1925)

Conservative lawyer John F. McGee was the dominant personality on the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, the body that governed Minnesota during World War I. Under McGee’s leadership, the commission demanded unquestioning support for the war effort and suppressed possible German American dissent. After the war, McGee became a federal judge who was well known for the heavy sentences he imposed on bootleggers.

Gale Family Library