The "Marriage Majority Initiative," launched by the group on Thursday morning, will "work to restore a pro-marriage majority in the Minnesota House in 2014 by supporting legislators who withstood immense political pressure in order to cast a vote in defense of traditional marriage."

The release comes days after 27-year-old Sen. Branden Petersen became the first Republican lawmaker in Minnesota to say he will likely support a bill to legalize gay marriage. In the release, NOM President Brian Brown singled out the senator from Andover.

A majority of Minnesota voters are opposed to a proposed constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman, according to results released Wednesday by the St. Cloud State University Survey. The annual poll found that 51 percent of respondents are opposed to the amendment, while 44 percent support it.

The main group opposing the proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage has raised $2.56 million since the close of the pre-primary reporting period in July. Since the group's founding after the marriage amendment was passed by state legislators in 2011, the group has raised by $8.2 million.

Minnesota for Marriage, which is leading the ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution, said it's raised $588,500 for the year. The group significantly lags the anti-amendment group in the money category.

The ruling said the lower court erred in not fully considering all of the constitutional arguments and ordered a fuller review of the lawsuit's claim that DOMA violates rights to due process, freedom of association and equal protection.

The goal of the bill is to repeal the constitutional amendment during the 2012 legislative session to stop it from going on the fall general election ballot. Minneapolis DFL Rep. Karen Clark, who is openly gay, is the chief author of the bill in the House. Sen. Scott Dibble, who is also an openly gay lawmaker from Minneapolis, will lead on the bill in the Senate.

A resolution makes the city the first to throw its weight behind the push to defeat the state's same-sex marriage amendment.

The announcement thrusts Emmer back into the political scene in Minnesota, as he will head up efforts for the group -- staunch opponents of gay marriage -- heading into the 2012 election.

Support for an amendment to ban same-sex marriage stands at 44 percent; more than half of respondents blame the Republican-held Legislature for last summer's government shutdown.