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Many Minnesotans began 2006 convinced that this fall, we would find a
proposed constitutional
amendment on our ballot, one which would prohibit same-sex couples from
marrying or from
enjoying any legal status whatsoever. Instead, for the second time in
three years, the Minnesota
Senate rejected this attempt to place yet another barrier to full
citizenship in the path of GLBT
Minnesotans.
This didn't "just happen." Courageous legislators from both parties
spoke out and voted against
this amendment not only because they knew that was the right thing to
do, but because
thousands and thousands of Minnesotans from every section of the state
worked together:
calling, emailing, faxing, writing, and meeting with their legislators;
signing petitions; endorsing
resolutions; attending rallies; participating in trainings; submitting
letters to the editor; and
asking their friends, families, and neighbors to do the same. OutFront
Minnesota has led the
way in this effort, mobilizing people all across Minnesota to join in
this remarkably successful
campaign to keep blatant discrimination off our ballot and out of our
constitution, for example,
by organizing some 50 community-action trainings in six short months,
reaching nearly 1,000
citizen activists.
OutFront Minnesota, however, did not do this work alone. Along with the
countless individuals
who stepped up to the plate, OutFront Minnesota built alliances with
fair-minded organizations
who saw that putting this harmful proposal up to a popular vote would be
dangerous to the state
as a whole; organizations from labor, civil rights, religious,
environmental, and other
communities were instrumental in reaching deep into corners of the state
and generating phone
calls and other contacts with legislators that had an incredible impact
on the outcome. Nearly
2,000 people took part in the March 23 People of Faith Rally, a critical
confirmation that a broad
range of religious people support fundamental equality for GLBT people.
And on April 27, some
5,000 people gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul for OutFront
Minnesota's justFair Lobby
Day, which has been hailed as a model for other states' GLBT-focused
lobby days.
The impact of the GLBT community and our all-important allies at the
State Capitol is being felt in
broad ways. This year, for instance, was the first year since the early
1990s that legislators did
not attempt to roll back protections GLBT students currently enjoy from
discrimination,
harassment, and violence. And a very significant number of legislators
voiced support for
creating a legal status for same-sex couples, even if not all supported
allowing such couples to
marry. The debate about this ill-conceived anti-marriage constitutional
amendment has, in fact,
created an unprecedented dialogue across Minnesota about the problems
same-sex couples
experience when their families are not legally recognized, and we
believe that public opinion is
shifting away from the proposed amendment and toward finding consensus
about the best way
forward in meeting these families' needs.
Now that the session is over, all eyes are turning toward this fall's
critical elections, when virtually
all Minnesota political offices will be up for grabs. OutFront Minnesota
hopes to build on the
momentum we've seen in the past several months to help educate voters
and candidates about
GLBT-related issues and help Minnesotans send a message to St. Paul that
misusing the lives of
GLBT citizens as "wedge issues" and engaging in anti-GLBT demagoguery
for supposed political
advantage is not welcome in our state. OutFront Minnesota looks forward
to a time when our
community is not constantly on the defensive to protect hard-won gains
of the past, and can
move forward to truly make our state a place where GLBT people have the
freedom, power, and
confidence to make the best choices for their own lives. |
