MINNESOTA SSM OPPONENTS WAGE QUIET VIGIL: From the Saint Paul Pioneer Press

[How do you wage a vigil? Never mind... -Eve]

They line the stairway leading to the chambers of the Minnesota Senate, trying to move minds with simple signs and cheerful greetings.

They are undeterred by the fact that as the session winds down, legislators are so busy trying to figure out how to make deals they aren't paying much attention. The citizen lobbyists who have filled the Capitol with lively rallies and arguments since February have dwindled to this determined few. ...

Hagberg is part of a low-key, last-ditch effort to convince senators that they should amend the state's constitution to permanently ban same-sex marriage. Unlike earlier noisy rallies on the topic, these volunteers bear witness with a smile and a slogan.

Bob Roach, a lobbyist and consultant from Plymouth who is mobilizing the sign-carriers, said regular volunteers are supplemented by busloads from churches. Their focus is the Senate because the Republican-controlled House passed the bill, which would put the amendment before voters in November. ...

Hagberg carries cards with biblical phrases on them. "The most important thing we can do here is pray," she said. "I've been trying to concentrate on that." Over at the State Office Building, Ed Kuznia of New Hope was taking vacation from his job as a warehouse clerk to stand in front of a committee room with a sign reading, "Let the people vote to define marriage." ...

"I have strong religious convictions," said Kuznia, who said he heard about the issue on a Christian radio station. "To me, I feel called by God to do this." But he said there also are practical reasons to preserve traditional marriage as the centerpiece of society, and he also is motivated by those concerns.

He said he believes gay sex is immoral, but agreed that there are many failings with heterosexual marriage as well. Several of the sign-carriers, in fact, agreed that marriage has been hurt by out-of-wedlock births and an epidemic of divorce.Jan Sotebeer of Eden Prairie was standing with her husband, Gary, near the Senate chamber, trying to greet and persuade senators. She is a YMCA aerobics instructor who never came to the Capitol before she heard about this issue. She's been a regular here this session. ...

On Monday and Tuesday, groups of the sign-carriers from Willmar and the Crystal-New Hope area met with the two top Senate leaders -- Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, and Assistant Majority Leader Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope. ...

Johnson, a Lutheran minister and National Guard chaplain, said he discussed the scriptural basis for the sign-carriers' beliefs. "I talked about the different interpretations there are today in regard to holy words, that no one has a corner on the market," he said. "There are different ideas, versions and interpretations."

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