MN’s gay marriage lawsuit dismissed

The Minnesota Independent is reporting that a same-sex marriage lawsuit pending in Minnesota 4th District Court has been dismissed. The plaintiffs in the case say the will appeal the decision. Here’s more from the Independent:

Judge Mary DuFresne dismissed a lawsuit by three Minnesota same-sex couples seeking the right to marry on Tuesday. DuFresne dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning the decision can be appealed. The couples — Duane Gajewski and Doug Benson, Lindzi Campbell and Jesse Dykhuis, John Rittman and Tom Trisko — have vowed to bring their case to a higher court. The case was filed in Minnesota’s Fourth District Court after the couples were denied marriage licenses in Hennepin County in spring 2010

Benson told the Independent that the judge gave all of Minnesota’s same-sex couples “the back of the hand.”

Minnesota soldier killed in Afghanistan; First death of gay servicemember from MN

Minnesota Public Radio reports that Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt of Rosemount died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan on Feb. 27. Lori Wilfahrt, Andrew’s mom, spoke with MPR’s Cathy Wurzer about her son and his experiences being gay in the military. The family has made OutFront Minnesota a beneficiary of memorials made in his honor.

Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt is the first gay or lesbian known to have been killed in Afghanistan. Here’s a portion of Lori Wilfahrt’s interview about her son:

Wurzer: He was also gay. How much did that concern you knowing he was joining the military?

Wilfahrt: It did a lot. I think it concerned him as well. He spent a lot of time thinking about it and he came to terms with it. He knew he would have to go back in the closet, that he would have to keep that to himself. And he did, for at least part of his stay in the Army. But when I talked to him (or when he wrote maybe) when he was in Afghanistan, he said nobody cares. He said, ‘Everybody knows, nobody cares.’ He said, ‘Even the really conservative, religious types, they didn’t care either.’ He said it’s about something else.

OutFront Minnesota offered this statement on its Facebook page. “Our hearts go out to the family of CPL Wilfahrt. We’re humbled that they’ve directed memorials in his name to support the work of OutFront Minnesota. We will strive to honor his memory.”

LGBT Activists Question Target’s New Giving Policies

Last week, Target Corp announced what some are billing as a major change in their corporate giving policies, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last summer’s public relations fiasco, following their donation of $150,000 to anti-LGBT Republican Tom Emmer’s campaign for Governor. However, at least one LGBT political group is skeptical that the changes will prevent similar anti-LGBT actions by the company.

Target would not comment on specific questions for this story, but spokesperson Jessica Carlson said the policy revisions came out of last year’s widespread protests against the donation.

“During and immediately following the 2010 U.S. election cycle, Target undertook a review of its political giving policies and practices,” Carlson said. “As part of this process, Target has established a Policy Committee consisting of our most senior executives to guide decision-making related to financial support of political activities.”

According to the company’s website, the Policy Committee will consider both “the interests of our guests, team members, shareholders and other stakeholders” along with the company’s “business interests” when deciding if a particular political contribution would be in Target’s best interests.

It’s that specific language that Russel Roybal, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said would protect the LGBT community in the future.

“Obviously, they’ve taken seriously the concerns people had” about last summer’s donation, Roybal told TheColu.mn. “This policy is a signal that they recognize that and they value their LGBT employees, and these groups and other resource groups [representing other minority Target employees] will have a seat at the table.”

Dot Betsler of Twin Cities Pride echoed Roybal, saying “this is consistent with the conversations we’ve had with Target. Their LGBT Business Council has a place at the decision-making table now.”

Roybal said that, while Target’s policy changes were the result of internal deliberations at the company, and that the Task Force did not help write them, they did encourage Target to create a policy that would prevent a repeat of last summer.

“You can only create change by engaging in the conversation and being honest,” Roybal said. “We told Target ‘the decision you made we think is wrong, and here’s why, and here’s how you can fix it and use us as a resource and figure out a solution that not only leaves the community in a better place but leaves [Target] in a better place.’”

While TC Pride – which counts Target as a major sponsor – and the Task Force are content to declare victory, others in Minnesota aren’t so sure.

Randi Reitan, a Rochester-area pro-LGBT activist who led a high-profile boycott of Target last summer, isn’t buying Target’s alleged change of heart, she told The Minnesota Independent. For her, it’s still a major problem that Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, a conservative Christian, is still in charge. Because of this, she said, she will continue her boycott.

Join The Impact, a Minneapolis-based activist group that grew out of anti-Proposition 8 protests in 2008, says they don’t see anything in the new policy that would explicitly prevent another big corporate donation to an anti-LGBT politician. Calling the new policy “an ineffective policy of restraint,” JTI member Phillip Knoll told TheColu.mn’s Andy Birkey that the organization saw a “huge conflict of interest.”

“Giving decisions are going to be made by the same conservative executives who each made the maximum political donations to Tom Emmer and Michele Bachmann from their personal accounts,” Knoll said. “This policy gives no proof that Target will refrain from making further damaging donations.”

At the heart of the problem, Knoll said, is Target’s presence in politics.

“I am reminded of the message given loud and clear by an outspoken marching-band flash-mob in a Target store last year: ‘Target Ain’t People So Why Should They Be Allowed To Play Around With Our Democracy?’” Knoll said. “Fundamentally, a for-profit retailer just isn’t properly equipped to participate in the political arena. They are good at making money, not making policy. And it should stay that way.”

Season Of Leadership Change

It’s the season for leadership change at several Minnesota LGBT non-profits: Shades of Yellow and the Trans Youth Support network are nearing the ends of their search for new Executive Directors, and local stalwart Pfund Foundation has announced an unusual choice to replace outgoing ED Gregg Grinley: Co-Directors.

The Trans Youth Support Network

“It’s definitely a little strange” being TYSN’s interim leader, said Katie Burgess. “It’s only been a couple of years since I stopped identifying as a youth.”

TYSN grew out of District 202 several years ago, and aims to help providers who serve trans Minnesotans better their services.

“We said, we don’t need to establish this giant center for queer and trans folks,” Burgess said. “Why don’t we just connect them [service providers] and train them to better service the youth community instead of having to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.”

Burgess described herself as a bit of a reluctant leader at first, saying she was “backed into a corner” by board members and other very active volunteers when former ED Ryan Li Dahlstrom left last year, and convinced to accept temporary leadership of the organization as a new, permanent director was found.

“They told me ‘You’ve been organizing for years! Take it!’” she laughed, outlining her relative lack of traditional non-profit leadership experience up to this point. “But I’d only washed dishes for 10 years, and I’d had hardly any grant management experience,” short of a brief stint as the interim Director of the Minnesota Trans Health Coalition several years ago.

Still, Burgess says the transition has been fairly smooth.  TYSN is now ensconced in its new offices and drop-in space – shared with RARE Productions and the MNTHC’s Shot Clinic – and Burgess says her main focus is on involving as much of TYSN’s membership in the ED selection process as possible, and in building up the group’s youth membership.

“We want to build a model bottom-up process for decision-making, for setting priorities and policy,” Burgess said.

Shades of Yellow

At Shades of Yellow, another rising star on the Twin Cities’ LGBT nonprofit scene, interim Executive Director Oskar Ly says SOY is following a similar approach in trying to include a broad swath of the Hmong LGBT community in the search for former ED and SOY founder Kevin Xiong’s replacement.

Ly, who also works as a fashion designer and a hip-hop artist in her spare time, said that five leaders within the organization and five community members have spent the last several months searching for not just a new ED, but re-thinking the entire way SOY is operated.

“We want to come up with an organizational scheme that looks at how power, authority, and responsibility is shared throughout the organization, the community, and the board,” Ly said.

A short list of candidates, and the fruits of this discussion are scheduled to be presented at next week’s Hmong New Year celebrations and the crowning of this year’s SOY Ambassador at Busavanh in St Paul.

While SOY was founded to serve the entire Hmong LGBT community, Ly said they were putting a strong focus on reaching out to queer Hmong youth.

“We’re asking ‘what do they need?’” Ly said. “Most Gay Straight Alliances in area schools haven’t really reached out to them.”

“I don’t think they’re intentionally alienating queer youth or Hmong queer youth,” Ly added. “I’m just not sure they’re aware of how to do the work.”

That work, Ly explained, is pretty complicated. There is even no positive Hmong word that can be used as an equivalent label for LGBT, akin to the term “Two-Spirit” that many queer Native Americans have taken on. Most of all, though, any GSAs trying to reach out to Hmong LGBT youth would have to tangle with difficult cultural identity issues that they aren’t normally equipped to deal with. Instead, Ly said, SOY is trying to work with Asian-American and Hmong student groups and multicultural clubs at schools in the Twin Cities in order to create more accepting and welcoming environments there.

“More often,” Ly said, “LGBTQ youth of color identify with their race first, and sexual identity second. Not always, of course but it’s very common.”

PFund Foundation

PFund may be the first Minnesota LGBT nonprofit to not only hire two executive directors to share one post, but to hire two EDs who also raise chickens in their backyard.

“We’re building a collective brain,” said Kate Eubank, one half of Pfund’s new leadership team. “Susan [Raffo] and I were sitting around her kitchen table, and someone said ‘what if we both applied together…No, really! what if we did it together?”

Susan Cogger, PFund’s communications director, says that other similar foundations, such as Colorado’s Chinook Fund, have used a job-share leadership model with success in the past. Part of the attraction, Raffo says is the flexibility it allows her, as a parent. At the same time, it also benefits PFund, she says, by allowing either herself or Eubank to travel PFund’s turf across the Upper Midwest, meeting with community members, grantees, and other activists while the other holds the fort in Minneapolis, tending to administrative duties.

“We’ve talked about wanting to have conversations about regionalism and…stepping outside our urban queer identity,” said Eubank

Eubank and Raffo say they are both excited to expand the foundation’s work, and are planning “listening sessions,” organized by zip code, to find out more about the needs of the area’s LGBT communities.

And the chickens? A few days before TheColu.mn interviewed Raffo and Eubank, they had all recently been turned into dinner.

“Our hobbies are connected to PFund, in a certain way,” said Raffo. “How do we build sustainability, how do we share resources, and how do we build communities while fulfilling everyone’s needs?”

UPDATE (2/18/11): Looks like this is a real week for staff turnover – both long-time Field Director Kelly Lewis at OutFront and PFund’s similarly long-serving Director of Development and Communications Susan Cogger have announced their resignations as they move on to other projects. In an email to supporters, OutFront said Lewis will be pursuing graduate school, while Cogger emailed TheColu.mn to say she’ll be resigning, effective February 25th, and will be searching for a similar development position.

“I’ve accomplished what I set out to at PFund,” Cogger wrote, “[I've helped] doubled revenue from individual donors, secured our first corporate sponsorships (RBC and UHG,) and created two successful branded events—Moxie Awards and the Cabaret.”

‘God Hates Fags’ a no-show in Hastings; hundreds rally for tolerance

Hundreds of counter protesters turned out in Hastings on Sunday to drown out Fred Phelps of God Hates Fags fame, but the controversial pastor and his minions never showed. Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church had threatened to protest a Hastings High School production of the Laramie Project, a play about the murder of Matthew Shepard.

The Hastings Gazette notes that hundreds of LGBT people and allies showed up for a peaceful protest of Phelps, but the church never showed up.

One attendee captured some of the protest on his phone’s video camera.

There were plenty of signs:

The Minnesota Atheists were on hand:

The protesters played “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga:

‘God Hates Fags’ headed to Hastings, Fargo; counter-protests planned

Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church and God Hates Fags fame is headed to Hastings this weekend and Fargo next weekend to protest showings of the Laramie Project. Counter-protests are already being organized in both cities.

In Fargo, 1,500 people have already joined the counter-protest on Facebook at attendees are being asked to remain peaceful. That event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 20.

The Hastings counter-protest is planned for Sunday, Feb. 13 from 1 to 4pm.

Here’s the Westboro Baptist Church schedule and its comment about each protest:

Hastings High School in Hastings, MN February 13, 2011 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM

WBC to picket yet another showing of The Laramie Project. A fag propaganda play about Matt Shepard. He has been in hell for 12 years now. Judy Shepard raised her son to be a disobedient drug using pervert, and God cut that child off. His blood is on her hands! From that day to this Judy Shepard has spent all her resources on teaching the young people of this nation the same rebellion that caused God to cut off her own son – and makes a hefty profit off of it! Shame on her for making money off of a child who is dead at her hands! Run from the lies told in this play – your never dying soul depends upon it! You will join Matt in hell if you follow/believe in these lies. Your destruction is imminent! Obey or Perish!

Fargo South High School in Fargo , ND February 20, 2011 6:45 PM – 7:30 PM

WBC to picket The Laramie Project, a fag propaganda play about Matt Shepard. He has been in hell now for twelve years, with eternity left to go on his sentence – without appeal, parole, or time off for good behavior. All else about Matt is trivial and irrelevant. Deal with it! What do you think is going to happen when you go out trolling for drugs in a bar? The youth of this nation are being taught the same rebellion that Matt was taught at the hands of all that are involved in raising them. The blood of this nation’s children is dripping from the hands of the parents, preachers, leaders, and teachers of this nation. We will be there to give them God’s word on the matter. Obey or Perish!

Richfield City Council Passes Domestic Partner Registry

Domestic partners in the City of Richfield have been recognized with the City Council’s vote of 3-2 to pass the domestic partner registry ordinance. The City Council also voted unanimously to include and amendment that allows domestic partners who work in the city to get bereavement time.

The vote was taken at the meeting on February 8th.

The work towards the domestic partner registry ordinance began when I, Philip Lowe, Jr asked Mayor Debbie Goettel and City Council Member Sue Sandahl if they would be interested in considering a domestic partner registry at the precinct caucus on Feb. 2, 2010. After they both answered yes, I contacted Molly Darsow, the Chair of the Richfield Human Rights Commission.

After an educational information session with Phil Duran from Outfront Minnesota at the regular monthly meeting of the Human Rights Commission in May 2010 it was decided to proceed with the registry.

After an introduction to the City Council at a meeting in September it was decided to have a community forum.

The community forum took place on September 22 at the Woodlake Nature Center. The forum was very well attended and Richfield residents left with a good understanding about what the ordinance would not do, and what it would do.

A first reading of the domestic partner registry was done at the City Council meeting January 25, 2011. Mayor Debbie, Sue Sandahl, and Pat Elliot voted in favor of moving forward with a second reading at the meeting on Feb 8. City Council members Tom Fitzpatrick and Fred Wroge voted no.

Explaining his vote on January 25 and February 8 Fitzpatrick said:

“I realize the registration is important to these folks,” he said, but wondered if the city was “passing an ordinance just to pass an ordinance.” He suggested the city would be better served by the council passing a resolution in support of domestic partnerships, and forwarding it to House Rep. Linda Slocum for consideration at the state legislature.

Councilmember Fred Wroge was also opposed to the ordinance. He made several calls as part of his research of the topic, calling neighboring city officials and hospital representatives about the effect of a similar ordinance. Wroge found little benefit to a city ordinance and doubted the city’s support of domestic partnership will have much affect upon private businesses and their willingness to extend employee benefits to domestic partners. He also took exception to a city code amendment that will grant bereavement leave for city employees to include registered domestic partners.

A domestic partnership registry, which would require payment of an administrative fee, creates busy work for city employees, according to Wroge. He, too, argued that domestic partner benefits should come from the top down. “That’s where it need to be done, at the state level,” he said.

Councilmember Pat Elliott said he cares about what residents of Richfield have asked of the city, not the opinions of those outside of Richfield. His initial opinion was that a domestic partnership registry would merely be symbolic, but after attending a public information meeting about the proposal last fall and hearing the impact domestic partnership recognition by private companies has on the lives of employees, he changed his mind.

“It’s time to move forward and take a stand,” he said. “What other communities do, I don’t care.”

Councilmember Sue Sandahl pointed out that the statewide ban on smoking inside bars and restaurants wasn’t handed down by the state, it started with cities and counties.

Mayor Debbie Goettel was also in favor of a local ordinance as a catalyst for action at the state level.

The council’s approval of bereavement for domestic partners of city employees was also approved unanimously The benefit will be extended to general services and management employees of the city, but will have to be negotiated as part of future labor contracts with unions, according to City Manager Steve Devich. He expects the provision will be extended to union employees in future negotiations.

Diversity can be understood as counting people. Inclusion means people count. The vote to pass the domestic partner registry ordinance means that domestic partners can be counted and that we can also count.

Lastly, on January 25, I was appointed to the Richfield Human Rights Commission where we will be talking about more advances for equality for all who live in our City.

Minnesota Hatewatch: Bradlee Dean, Bryan Fischer say gays were responsible for Holocaust

Radio host and front man for anti-gay ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International hosted Byran Fischer of the American Family Association, a group which has been labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group.” Dean and Fischer argued the case that “homosexuals” were responsible for the rise of the Nazi party in pre-WWII Germany and, by extension, the Holocaust.

Dean has had close associations with Minnesota politicians including Rep. Michele Bachmann and Fischer hosted former Gov. Tim Pawlenty on his radio show in January.

American people don’t know “the connection between homosexuality and the rise of the Nazi party,” Fischer said. “Hitler himself was a active homosexual… a gay prostitute. ”

“[The homosexuals] were willing to do things that he could not get straight soldiers to do in terms of brutality,” he added. “The myth out there is that the Nazi party persecuted homosexuals and it is true that they did but what they did was went after the effeminate homosexuals.”

Dean added, “I’m going to high five everything you are saying.”

Fischer continued, “You can really say the Nazi party would not have been possible without the homosexuals in the Brownshirts.”

“I’m not saying that the homosexuals are directly responsible for the Holocaust but I think it’s indisputable that there would not have been the Nazi party without the stormtroopers, all of whom were homosexual, and the holocaust would not have happened without the Nazi party, so the dots there are pretty easy to connect.”

Anti-gays infiltrate Creating Change conference?

Have you seen this man? This is Jake MacAuley, aka Jake McMillian and he’s part of the anti-gay You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries, a group that repeatedly calls LGBT people “criminals” and once said that Muslim countries that execute homosexuals were “more moral” than American Christians.

On his radio show on Saturday afternoon, Bradlee Dean said that his sidekick, Jake McMillian, was “playing the spy” presumably on the Creating Change conference. Dean said he’d be reporting on his spying on next weekend’s show.

“The other guy is not with us today,” Dean said. “He’s incognito, he’s playing the spy.”

Dean spent most of his Saturday evening show with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association trying to blame “homosexuals” for committing the Holocaust.

The group often attends LGBT events in Minnesota, ambushing people with their video cameras and voice recorders and then playing it on their radio program.

Here they are at OutFront’s LGBT Lobby Day at the Capitol in April.

St. Louis Park passes domestic partner registry, Richfield to pass same next week

St. Louis Park passed a domestic partner registry on Jan. 18 over the protests of some in the community who thought the ordinance would violate their religious rights. And last week, Richfield passed a similar ordinance on first reading. It will need a second reading on Feb. 8 in order to become law. St. Louis Park has become the eighth Minnesota community to pass such a registry and Richfield is poised to become the ninth.

“As OutFront Minnesota continues to advocate the cause of full marriage equality for same-sex couples, we welcome the news of communities across Minnesota taking a stand and doing what they can for their families, friends and neighbors who are wrongly discriminated against by state and federal law,” OutFront Minnesota said in a statement following St. Louis Park’s passage of the domestic partner registry. “We applaud the action of the Saint Louis Park City Council and thank the dozens of Saint Louis Park residents who voiced their support for this measure.”

The city council got several letters opposing the measure.

“We’re constantly working to expand civil rights in this country and leaning forward and being progressive,” Councilmember Phil Finkelstein told the MN Sun. “This won’t affect anyone’s personal interests. This won’t affect their rights to practice their religion. As my wife says, ‘we’re all God’s children.’”

In Richfield, two city council members voiced their opposition to the proposed ordinance, which passed it’s first reading last week.

Council Members Tom Fitzhenry and Fred Wroge want the state, not Richfield to enact domestic partnerships, according to the Richfield Patch.

Domestic partner registries have been passed in Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Paul, Rochester, Golden Valley, Maplewood, Edina, and now St. Louis Park.