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TOM SCHECK: The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated the proposed constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage on a 5 to 4 vote. The vote fell along party lines with DFLers in the majority. Several DFL lawmakers said they don't want the state constitution to include discrimination. Others, like Senator John Marty of Roseville, says marriage should be decided by the couple, not government.

JOHN MARTY: Every person in this room should have a right to make a decision and a vote on marriage, their marriage, not my marriage, not Linda and Bobby's marriage, not Senator Bachmann's marriage or any of our kids. We should decide for ourselves who we want to marry. Between us and our partner and our god, not between the people of Minnesota. It's not a popularity contest.

TOM SCHECK: The committee did approve a proposal to amend the constitution to prevent the courts from directing or requiring the legislature to define marriage. The bill's author, DFL Senator Don Betzold of Fridley, says he wants to prevent the courts from weighing in on the issue. The same-sex issue has moved to the forefront this year, largely because the Massachusetts Supreme Court has said marriage licenses should be issued to same-sex couples.

Republican Senator Michele Bachmann of Stillwater says she's not happy with the proposal that did pass, but says she's pleased that she has a chance to amend her bill into Betzold's bill when it goes to the Senate floor. She says Betzold's proposal doesn't go far enough and could create future problems in the legislature.

MICHELE BACHMANN: It does not define marriage and it does not give the people the right to vote on the definition of marriage. Even worse, it puts the issue in play as a political football in the legislative arena.

TOM SCHECK: Bachmann says she'll consider several options to force the full Senate to vote on the issue. The House passed the proposed ban earlier this week. So if it passes the Senate, the question would go on the ballot in November. Constitutional amendment questions don't need the governor's signature.

If a majority of those voting in that election vote in favor of the amendment, the state constitution would ban gay marriage and any legal equivalent. Supporters say the amendment is necessary to prevent the Minnesota courts from overturning the state's Defense of Marriage Act. Saint Thomas College of Law professor Teresa Collett says public officials in other parts of the country have started issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

TERESA COLLETT: The courts have declared marriage to be an issue of constitutional law. And the only question that remains is, who will determine what that constitutional law is to be?

TOM SCHECK: But opponents say the proposal would treat gay couples as second-class citizens. Linda Smith says she and her partner Bobbi have lived together for 34 years. She says the two have adopted four children, attend church regularly, and vote in every election.

LINDA SMITH: Were it not for the fact that my partner is a woman, we could be the poster for American family values. And yet, you are being asked to put forth an amendment to protect people from us.

TOM SCHECK: Smith says if the amendment is added to the constitution, Minnesota would become, quote, "a cold Iraq where government dictates religious rights on the public." But others say allowing same-sex marriage would be immoral. John Thomas is the executive director of the Glory Bound Family Restoration Center in Minneapolis. He says the Senate is bottling up his ability to vote on the issue.

JOHN THOMAS: And I will do everything in my capability, in my power to battle against you. I'm a poor Black man with nothing to lose. I will not go back to Jim Crow. I will have my vote. I will have my say.

TOM SCHECK: Others say it's necessary to keep marriage between a man and a woman to protect the sanctity of marriage. That upset several gay rights advocates. Ann DeGroot with the gay rights organization Outfront Minnesota says gay couples want the same legal benefits afforded to heterosexual married couples. She says a gay person cannot visit a partner in the hospital, can't access a partner's health benefits or receive a partner's retirement benefits.

ANN DEGROOT: There's been a lot of talk here about protecting heterosexual marriage. I am still unclear what this bill, this constitutional amendment, would do to protect heterosexual marriage. And I'm also unclear about what we are protecting it from.

TOM SCHECK: Governor Pawlenty says he wished the original legislation has passed, but says the proposal that was approved is better than nothing. At the Capitol, I'm Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio.