In a highly debated decision, the North Dakota Senate rejected a resolution on Thursday that would have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage. The resolution, introduced by Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, was voted down 31-16, but it did not identify how individual lawmakers voted.
Sen. Josh Boschee, D-Fargo, argued that even though the resolution would likely go unnoticed by the Supreme Court, it would send a strong message to residents of North Dakota. He requested a roll call vote, but fell short of the required eight senators to proceed.
Sen. Sean Cleary, R-Bismarck, expressed disappointment that there would be no record of how lawmakers voted on such an important issue. However, Sen. Larson defended her decision to request a verification vote, stating that the result was the most important outcome.
Moving forward, Boschee emphasized the importance of lawmakers being mindful of the impact of the bills they introduce and urged them to refrain from legislating morality. The ACLU of North Dakota praised the Senate’s decision, calling the resolution a bigoted and unpopular view on same-sex marriage.
The resolution had previously passed the House on a narrow 52-40 vote in February. Despite support from groups like MassResistance, which the GLAAD Accountability Project describes as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, the resolution ultimately failed in the Senate. Critics of the bill, including Sen. Hogan, expressed regret over the divisiveness it caused among constituents and vowed to move past the issue.
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