Organizers against marriage amendment gathering Asian community support

East Asian young adults met at Hamline University in St Paul Saturday to plan a campaign in their community against the proposed state marriage amendment.

The amendment, which goes before voters in November, would define marriage as between a man and woman.

Nick Kor, an organizer with Minnesotans United for All Families, said discussions about gay, lesbian or transgender issues can be difficult in the Asian community.

"A lot of these issues aren't talked about in our community very often," he said. "In our culture there are a lot of gender norms that don't necessarily support LGBT people and our relationships and so this'll be the start of a long 10 months where we're going to really have these conversations with our friends and family in our community."

Kor says the campaign is organizing now because discussions among multi-generational Asian families will take months to get started.

Organizer Oskar Ly said younger people want their families to talk about the issues raised by the amendment as the campaign heats up.

"We're hoping that if the state of Minnesota is receptive to civil unions or marriage between same-sex couples that this will perhaps open up the minds of our families and our friends, our peers, our neighbors," Ly said.