GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- The list of prominent companies, organizations and individuals weighing in on the Minnesota marriage debate continues to grow, with Thomson Reuters and radio host Garrison Keillor speaking out this week.
In a phone conversation with KARE 11, Keillor said he opposes the amendment because, "I think the constitutional amendment is mean-spirited. I think it's meanness at the bottom of it, to exclude a whole class of people."
Keillor talked with KARE 11 just a couple of hours before taping a live show at the Hollywood Bowl in California. The host of "A Prairie Home Companion" has also agreed to record a voicemail message for the winner of a contest involving those who donate at least $3 to Minnesotans United for All Families, the group opposing the amendment.
Also on Friday, the legal and business information company Thomson Reuters came out against the amendment. A group of prominent attorneys also wrote a letter critical of the measure to the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In that letter, the attorneys said, "the marriage amendment endangers our business climate, signaling that ours is a community that does not welcome members of the LGBT community."
In the meantime, the group supporting the amendment say they have high profile supporters, too. But they argue it will still come down to individual voters throughout the state.
"The endorsement or opposition game, it's been there in every single state where a marriage amendment has been proposed. In every single state they've all been passed, whether someone endorsed it or opposed it," said Chuck Darrell with Minnesota for Marriage.
Among those who support the amendment, are The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Assembly of God, and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.
Among those opposing the amendment, besides Keillor and Thomson Reuters, are General Mills, St. Jude Medical, The Guthrie Theatre, and Bill, Bob and Jim Pohlad.
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