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TRANSCRIPT OF FLOOR REMARKS ON MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

ST. PAUL, MN – State Representative John Ward’s (DFL – Brainerd) remarks on the House floor during the marriage amendment debate:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members. Thank you, Rep. Murphy, for offering all of us a way to maybe take some time and think about this more. Rep. Kelly, thank you for your words of strength and courage. Thank you for allowing me to stand up, inspiring me to stand up because Rep. Kelly, I was just got to sit tonight and listen and then vote. I wanted to say something but I wasn't sure that I should, but when you stood up, and the words that you gave to all us, the courage that you showed. I thank you for inspiring me to do this.

Members I wasn't going to say anything tonight, I was just going to sit by but then I felt my dad's spirit. You know, my dad I just lost. You know, invoking me to share with you tonight and you know, Speaker Zellers, you recently shared about how a piece of legislation you offered was real personal for you and I felt your emotions and your pain, Speaker Zellers. Thank you for that because this piece of legislation, members, is real personal for me as well. It's not only personal for me members, is personal for thousands and thousands and thousands of others in the state of Minnesota.

You see members, for me this is about, as Rep. Kelly indicated, and I agree totally with you. This is in my opinion; I'm concerned about putting discrimination into our state constitution, just like you said Rep. Kelly. And members for me this is about discrimination even though we've heard this isn't about discrimination. For me it's about discrimination and when you have a physical handicap and you look different and you go through life you get treated different. You get discriminated against. You get bullied. And members, I've been there. It was many, many years I hated how I looked because of my handicap, my physical handicap and it really impacted my life.

I wish Rep. Holberg was on the floor, because recently on abortion bill, she talked about the painthat she felt. You all remember that, with her brother. And I felt her pain that night as well. And Rep. Holberg said to us: members we all have our own trials and tribulations. We all have our own crosses in life to bear and I couldn't agree with her more. I didn't see this, you know, as a blessing from God. I saw it as a curse from the Lord. I now see it as a blessing, members. All of us have our a different trials and tribulations in our lives and members whether those crosses and trials and tribulations come from the way we are born, or from a terrible accident that changes our life, or from debilitating disease which cripples us and makes us less than what we were, or are, or from a veteran serving us so that we have the rights that we have. Discriminatory actions should never, ever take place in our society. Those crosses that we bear each of us need to deal with in our own personal way and situation. But never, never should discrimination have any place in our society.

And members, I want to share with you, sometimes you know, we sit here, 134 of us in this chamber, and 67 of us in another chamber and we sit and impact people's lives every day we are here. And members, sometimes we don't know the impact that we make on them because we haven't walked in their shoes. Well, I've walked in the shoes and faced discrimination, and I want to share with you just a few stories about my life, when I faced some of that discrimination in my life. And it even goes back to my schoolhood days, Rep. Davnie, when I was in a Catholic school, going to the playground everyday when we had recess time and all my friends looked forward to recess time.

And there was a time, one year in particular, I got picked on everyday on the playground at recess because I looked different. And sometimes bullying leads to discrimination, in my opinion. Most kids loved recess, members. I hated it, because I was scared and had the fear of being bullied and discriminated against. And then another kid by the name of Michael Graves, Michael Graves, stopped the bullying, stopped the discriminatory actions, and put me at ease. Michael was handicapped also, he had been in a fire and had his legs burned. Lived with it for a long time, and eventually had to have one of them amputated. But Michael recognized, like I recognized, and like Rep. Kelly recognizes, and many others, that discriminatory actions have no place in society.

While I faced discrimination many other times in my life, members, I want to fast-forward to my April, May and June of 1968 when I was graduating from Proctor High School. My dad was on the railroad, and he was in management. And Rep. Rukavina and Rep. Anzelc, remember when we kids in high school, our dads worked in the mines, or on the railroad, we got a good summer job. We got a good-paying summer job to help us pay for college. And in 1968 when my dad was on the road, on the railroad, in management, he had the ability to try to find for me a summer job to help me pay for college. My dad put my name in for a labor job, and then my dad put my name in for a clerical job, and then my dad put my name in for a section job, on the gang, on the section gang. And the fourth job my dad put my name in for was a custodial job, on the road, on the railroad. To help me earn money for college, a good paying job. To better my life.

For each one of those jobs, members, you had to go and get a physical from the railroad doctor. And in 1968, when I went for 4 different physicals, labor, clerical, section, janitorial, the doctor looked at me and said 'I can't pass you, because of your handicap, because of your arm, because of your lack of ability.' And members, I remember being angry, disappointed, hurt, frustrated, but mostly I remember, I will never ever allow discrimination to the best of my ability, ever again.

Right after that, members, the Equal Opportunity Act was passed and I'm thankful for that, that every person has the right to apply for a job that they should be able to get, not based on anything with discriminatory action.

Members, I like you, have been hearing from all sides on this issue, all sides. Republicans, Democrats, metro, rural, pro-life, pro-choice, I've been hearing from all sides. And members, they've all been asking us to support their position and that's good. That's what we're elected for, all 201 of us. This has been a really difficult decision for me, like I know it has been for every one of you, and every one of you, and everyone outside, and everyone in this state.

Because my religious beliefs say that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. I also feel that the church should have the right to marry, or not marry, based on that church's beliefs. That's a right, that's a freedom, Rep. Kriesel that you fought for and the rest of servicemen and women are fighting for. My turmoil is that I'm not willing to allow discrimination into our State Constitution, which I feel this amendment does, Rep. Kelly. Just like you said.

Members, I understand discrimination. I've experienced discrimination, and I have felt discrimination. Sometimes like I said, it's difficult to know what kind of impact we play in people's lives until we walk a little bit in their shoes.

Members, and I don't care which side of the aisle your on, I hope and pray that we don't come in here and just sit down and vote. I remember taking a vote on the override on the transportation veto, and a number — 2 of you still here — had the courage to vote what was right, in my opinion, and others disagree with that, but my opinion. And I applaud, still applaud your courage.

Then members, a few years ago we sat in here and debated GAMC and I'm thinking to myself during the debate and if you were in here for that debate, and freshmen, you weren't. But if you sat in this chamber during that debate, it was the most powerful and emotional debate I have ever been involved in. And I thought to myself, it was a veto override vote, and I thought to myself, there's no way in God's Green Earth that we are going to let poor, sick people not have health care coverage. I know that we are going to come together and do the right thing. And when the board lit up, it was a partisan vote, straight partisan vote.

Members, I hope today, that if my words, or if anyone else's words speak to all of you, all of you, about if you think that's there is a tiny bit of discrimination in this amendment, I beg you, I ask you, I implore you, to vote no. To vote no.

Members, we have a state statute, Rep. Gottwalt, just like you said, defining marriage. Members, I know of no judge working to overturn that, to change that. If in fact, members, we believe that our state statues are no good and aren't strong enough, then maybe we should be offering up constitutional amendments on everything, on every state statute that we have. But we're not going to do that, that's ridiculous.

But members, think with your heart, and your conscience. And vote no.