Terry & Jessie Ventura Oppose MN Anti-Gay Measure

The former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, and his wife Terry are appearing in a video expressing their opposition to Minnesota's anti-gay marriage amendment which would amend the state constitution to prohibit the legal recognition of civil same-sex marriages.

Here's a transcript of what they say in the video:

Jesse: Government should not be telling people who to fall in love with. Government should not be telling people who to cohabit with, or anything of that nature. We're supposed to be home of the brave, land of the free. We've been married now, believe it or not, 37 years. The happiness we've had I would wish for everybody to have. 

Terry: Marriage is about when people fall in love and decide to make a commitment in front of their friends and their family and it means something. How in the world can two people professing how much they love and care for each other and that they want to be with each other forever, how can that be bad? No matter who you are. 

Jesse: This is not a Democrat issue, this is not a Republican issue, this is not a liberal issue, it's not a conservative issue which means it affects each and every one of us, regardless of whatever our political persuasion is.  

Terry: What if one day someone decided to take what's really important to you and put it on a bill and try to get it to change our constitution so you could never even have a chance to get it back? If you look at it in that context, how important is it to you? If you don't stand up for their rights, you'll lose some of your rights too.  

Jesse: The constitution shouldn't be used to oppress people, the constitution is used to protect people. Love is by far bigger than government can ever be. We are the state of Minnesota, we make our own decisions and we know what good values are in Minnesota, and good values are to keep people free. We should defeat this and vote no to show the rest of the U.S. that nobody influences Minnesotans on what's right and whats wrong.

The latest polling in Minnesota is not good, with polls conflicting on whether the forces of equality or the forces of discrimination are ahead. Any uncertainty on the question usually leads to such measures passing, as they have in 31 other states. The latest PPP poll (from September 12) has 48% Yes (supporting a state constitutional ban on mariage equality), 47% No. PPP's margin of errors is 3.4 percentage points. However, a SurveyUSA computer-generated poll released the day before has the race at 50% Yes, 43% No.

Even though Minnesota already has a law banning recognition of same-sex marriage, passing this measure would mean the only way to enact marriage equality in Minnesota would be to either have a federal judge strike down the measure as violating the U.S. constitution or pass another future amendment invalidating this one.