As if the results of Tuesday’s elections weren’t evidence enough, OutFront Minnesota announced Thursday afternoon that, while they “aren’t giving up,” they certainly won’t be holding their breath for the Minnesota legislature to pass any significant pro-equality legislation this session.

After completing her own post-mortem of the 72-62 majority in the state House of Representatives and the 37-30 split in the state Senate that Republicans will enjoy come the start of the new legislative session in January, OutFront’s Executive Director Monica Meyer tried to put a hopeful face on things in an interview with TheColu.mn. “What we hope is that [the new Republican members of the legislature] will think of the future of their party, and see that more and more younger people in Minnesota support equality,” she said.

However, both her analysis of the incoming Republican majorities and a separate analysis by TheColu.mn of pro- or anti-LGBT positions held by these legislators-to-be shows that most are very strong social conservatives, who will likely be unwilling to vote for LGBT rights.

“There are some people coming back that…were legislators before and we know their record,” Meyer told TheColu.mn, “but it’s discouraging to see how many on their [campaign] websites talked about anti-LGBT issues, about actively not standing up for equality.”

According to TheColu.mn’s tally, come January at least 30 of the 37 GOP state Senators and at least 58 of the 72 GOP state Representatives will fall firmly in the “anti-LGBT” box, making for near-majorities in each chamber of social conservatives who are more often found on the fringes of their party.

State Senator Scott Dibble (DFL – Minneapolis) told TheColu.mn that, while he fully intends to reintroduce an anti-bullying bill next year that passed the legislature in 2009 with bipartisan support, “chances are slim to none that it will get a hearing.”

“People in Minnesota need to know that some of us in power care,” he said.

If a specter stalks the upcoming legislative session, though, it is the prospect of an amendment to the state constitution that would ban same-gender marriage, reinforcing a similar state statute passed in 1997. While most “Tea Party” and GOP candidates, including Tom Emmer, ran away from social issues, Minnesotan religious conservatives kept harping on the issue over the summer and into the fall, raising fears that they will be pushing the issue come January.

“In a word: Change,” Star Tribune politics reporter Dennis McGrath said in an online forum with readers on Wednesday. “This election was bigger than any one or any group of issues facing the legislature. Voters were in an ornery mood and they went after Democratic incumbents. They were angry about the economy, angry at Obama.”

McGrath’s view is a hopeful note, and so far Republican leaders have stuck to a script promising to create jobs and cut the size of government, but Meyer said OutFront was getting ready to play a defensive game in St Paul nonetheless.