North Dakota lawmakers hear emotional testimony on resolution against same-sex marriage

BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — A North Dakota Senate committee voted 6-1 Wednesday to not issue a recommendation on a House resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage.

Sen. Ryan Braunberger, D-Fargo, the only vote against the recommendation, said he wants voters to know exactly where he stands on the issue. He also pointed out the organization supporting the resolution, MassResistance, has been labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

“I want my constituents to know that I disagree with this wholeheartedly,” Braunberger said. “This bill is coming from a place of hate.”

Supporters and opponents of House Concurrent Resolution 3013, sponsored by Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, delivered pointed, and at times emotional, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The resolution asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which has protected same-sex marriage. The resolution passed the House on a 52-40 vote in February.

“It’s past time for North Dakota citizens to speak their displeasure with this Supreme Court decision and call for restoration of the definition of marriage as only of the legal union between a man and a woman,” Tveit said.

Arthur Schaper, a field director for MassResistance, testified remotely during the hearing.

“It is a crime against nature to teach anyone that they are born homosexual or transgender,” Schaper told lawmakers. “These patterns of behavior are inherently harmful to individuals and they should not be granted a privileged status in marriage.”

MassResistance was labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the GLAAD Accountability Project, an organization that catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions taken by lawmakers, religious leaders and organizations.

More than 330 people submitted testimony on the measure ahead of the public hearing, most opposing the resolution.

Rep. Matt Ruby, R-Minot, speaks during a committee hearing on a resolution opposing same-sex marriage on March 12, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

The first person to testify in opposition to the resolution Wednesday was Rep. Matt Ruby, R- Minot, who voted in support of the measure when it passed the House – a decision he told the committee he now regrets.

“I knew before we were done with that floor session that I had made a mistake,” Ruby said. “I’ve regretted a lot of votes over my four sessions. This is the first time I’ve been disappointed with myself over a vote.”

He added he hopes the Senate can defeat Tveit’s resolution.

Bradley King of Bismarck testified in opposition to the measure and said he raised his family here because he thought it was a great place to have children.

King held up a picture of his daughter, a middle school teacher, and her wife. He told the committee members how proud he was to walk her down the aisle and that her marriage isn’t hurting anybody.

“Right now, you are looking at one angry father,” King said. “I personally feel that this is an attack on my daughter.”

After 45 minutes of testimony from each side, the hearing was closed and members decided to send the resolution to a vote of the full Senate without a committee recommendation.

Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, said she and many other lawmakers had been getting hateful emails and messages leading up to the hearing.

“I just think it’s disgusting on either side, doesn’t matter what side it is,” Myrdal said.

Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, chair of the committee, reiterated that the Legislature needs to take up all bills for final votes in each chamber, regardless of their content.

Rep. Austin Foss, D-Fargo. (Photo provided by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly)

Rep. Austin Foss, D-Fargo, who strongly advocated against the resolution before it passed in the House, was among those who attended the committee hearing.

“I’m emotionally beat. You saw some real hatred, real hatred from the true bill sponsor, which is MassResistance,” Foss said after the hearing. “It’s very, very outdated ideas that I thought we had put to bed, but I guess not, so that was really hard to hear.”

Foss said he’s been hearing unacceptance and hatred for his whole life and had little sympathy for lawmakers receiving angry phone calls for the last week.

“I’ve also gotten hate when I was door knocking, when I was campaigning. I got hate from people for just being who I am,” he said. “That hatred coming from those individuals, we deal with that every day.”

(Story written by Michael Achterling – North Dakota Monitor)