Minnesota legislature approves ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage

[JURIST] The Minnesota Legislature [official website] on Saturday approved adding a constitutional amendment [HF 1613, text] to ban same-sex marriage to the November 2012 ballot. The Minnesota House of Representatives [official website] voted 70-62 to approve the proposed amendment. In early May, the voter referendum received approval [JURIST report] by the Minnesota Senate [official website] by a vote of 38-27, with only one Democrat joining Republicans in supporting the amendment. Although Minnesota law already bans same-sex marriages, this constitutional amendment…