History of same-sex marriage in Minnesota

In 1997, Minnesota legislature passed a statute banning marriage between same-sex couples. Section 517.03 Prohibited Marriages includes the following verbiage:

Subdivision 1. General. (a) The following marriages are prohibited:

…

(4) a marriage between persons of the same sex.

(b) A marriage entered into by persons of the same sex, either under common law or statute, that is recognized by another state or foreign jurisdiction is void in this state and contractual rights  granted by virtue of the marriage or its termination are unenforceable in this state.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 2007 – Chapter 517. Domestic Relations

Minnesota marriage amendment history

On April 26, 2011, State Senator Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) and a host of his Republican Senate colleagues announced they would introduce a Constitutional Amendment bill (SF 1308) into the Minnesota Senate… The next day State Representative Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) introduced the companion bill, HF 1613. (source)

Shall the Minnesota constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?

The senate approved the measure on May 11, 2011 with a vote of 38-27 which sent the measure to the House. On Saturday evening, May 21, 2011, the House voted 70-62 to place the constitutional measure on the ballot. It was  presented to Governor Mark Dayton on May 24, 2011. (source)

On May 25, 2011, Dayton had this to say about the measure:

I do not have the power to prevent this divisive and destructive constitutional amendment from appearing on the ballot, in November 2012, the Legislature sent it to me in the form of a bill. Thus, symbolic as it my be, I am exercising my legal responsibility to either sign or veto it. Without question, I am vetoing it; and I urge Minnesotans to reject this mean-spirited, divisive, un-Minnesotan and un-American amendment. (Source)

The amendment goes to the voters on November 6, 2012.