More than 60 current and retired members of the law school faculty at the University of Minnesota have sent an open letter to legislators, urging them not to place a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota on the 2012 ballot.

The letter says the amendment "does not help existing marriages" and is "a wasteful and harmful diversion away from the state's immediate need to focus on many other pressing problems.

The proposed amendment has been approved by committees in both the House and Senate. Gov. Mark Dayton opposes it, but amendments don't have to be signed by the governor and he has no power to veto it.

Here's the full letter:

An Open Letter