Brian Brown, president of
the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), strongly believes
Minnesota voters will approve a constitutional amendment that defines
marriage as a heterosexual union, thereby banning gay and lesbian
couples from the institution. Lawmakers
approved the amendment on Saturday and sent it to voters for their
approval in 2012.
The Washington-based group
has been at the forefront of the marriage debate since backing
California's 2008 voter-approved gay marriage ban, Proposition 8,
which overturned a state Supreme Court ruling that legalized the
institution in the state.
In remarks to NPR, Brown
suggested a recent Star Tribune Minnesota Poll which found a
majority (55%) of Minnesotans opposed to the amendment was biased.
“People doing polls want
to get the results they're getting,” Brown said.
“In Minnesota, they'll
do what 31 other states have done – vote for traditional marriage.
We've been working with the state groups, just as we did in Maine and
California, and we will financially support them.”
“The only poll that
counts is what happens in the ballot box, and we've never lost,” he
added.
A Gallup poll released
last week found 53% of respondents support the legalization of gay
marriage, while 45% percent disagree, and two percent don't know. It
is the polling group's first survey in 15 years to find opponents of
the institution in the minority.