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Dan McGrath, Executive Director,
Take Action Minnesota
"Good evening. My name is Dan McGrath, I am the Executive
Director of TakeAction Minnesota. We're a coalition of the 25 biggest
and most powerful organizations in the state including OutFront
Minnesota. We are a coalition of Minnesotans and we stand for values
that make this state great – equity, fairness, justice.
I'm proud to stand as an ally today. I'm also a married man. My
partner in life is a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman. In no way is
my marriage threatened by anything that they're talking about (at the
Dobson rally).
I'm also the son of a lesbian. My mother instilled in me and my three
siblings, values - values like honesty; be honest with yourself, be
honest with others, have the courage of your convictions, and stand up
for yourself and what you believe. Like any good mom, she taught me to
share. She taught me to understand that we all have a responsibility to
ourselves and the community we live in. These are values any child can
learn from their parents, straight or gay.
The reason my mother is my role model is not because she's a lesbian.
The reason my mother is my moral compass is because she came out as a
lesbian to be who she is. When my mom came out, I, a straight teenage
boy in a working class family, in a small town attending Catholic
school, I began to recognize what injustice and persecution and
discrimination look like. And I can tell you standing here, I know what
it looks like across the street, that's what that is.
My mom taught me another value, and that's hard work - that you can
make a difference if you dedicate yourself to your beliefs, and that's
taking action. That's why I picked up a side gig this last month and
that's as Get out the Vote Director for America Votes. America Votes is
a broad coalition of folks that share our values and believe that the
only way we can make change and find leaders who believe in fairness and
justice and equality is if we get out and vote on November 7th. So I
want you to all look around at the folks with clipboards, and I want to
make sure you talk to them and that you sign up because that's the way
we're gonna make change, that's the way we're gonna make sure that our
values are heard loud and clear in this state.
Thank you very much."
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