Vandals spray-painted a swath of anti-gay messages on several buildings, on sidewalks and even trees and bushes Wednesday morning, amid Hamline University’s Rainbow Week, a series of events designed to raise the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
Even with temperatures hovering around zero, more than 300 people gathered Thursday night in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood to march in solidarity following the violent attack on Kristen Boyne, a lesbian who was beaten as she walked home from work last week. Their message: “It’s a woman’s right to walk at night.”
Several hundred people gathered in Loring Park on Monday evening to hear Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student murdered in Wyoming ten years ago, speak on the anniversary of his death. Flanked by Angel Action, a group dressed as angels originally created to prevent religious zealots from protesting Matthew’s funeral, a crowd of 300 people, including Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight, listened to Judy Shepard’s poignant words.
“What we are trying to do is make the world a safer place… Things are going to get better,” she said. “As my husband, Dennis, says, ‘It’s been 10 years of change, but no progress.’”
She called for the passage of hate crimes and employment nondiscrimination legislation, and for a society where everyone is treated equally.
Ten years ago, more than 1,100 people gathered in Minneapolis’ Loring Park for a candlelight vigil to mark the death of Matthew Shepard, who died Oct. 12, 1998, from injuries sustained from a brutal attack by two young men whose goal was to beat and rob a gay person.
Now people will gather again in Loring Park at 6:30 pm Monday evening for a candlelight vigil to observe the 10th anniversary of Shepard’s death, and to draw attention to the fact that in those 10 years, Congress has failed to pass the hate crime legislation that bears his name. Shepard’s mother chose Minneapolis as the site of the vigil.
In early 2007, a man walked into a Loring Park gay bar asking for change for the bus. As he waited for his change, a patron at the bar struck up a conversation with the man. The man looking for…
The Matthew Shepard Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal hate crimes statutes, was stripped from a defense appropriations bill late last week by Democrats, a move that has angered lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender…
A graffiti symbolizing the anti-Semitic swastika was painted on a synagogue in St. Louis Park Monday. Police say the suspect didn’t even do a good job in drawing the swastika.
Police got the tip of a small swastika on the…
Tyler W. Tuomie and Paul G. Spakousky were back Saturday at the Hindu temple in Maple Grove they vandalized in April, but this time, they were there to express remorse and ask for forgiveness.
They got it, but not before…
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
