OutFront Minnesota

By any reasonable standard the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has been an unmitigated failure. In its nearly two decades, it has failed to rehabilitate a single patient. The only people who have graduated from the program have done so in body bags. Yet, since 2003, the program’s budget has ballooned by nearly 400 percent, from $18.5 million annually to $71.6 million.

Faith leaders from several faith traditions gathered at the Capitol in St. Paul on Thursday afternoon to speak out in support of marriage rights for gays and lesbians in Minnesota.

Temple of Aaron in St. Paul is Minnesota’s first Conservative synagogue to bless same-sex unions following a unanimous decision by the board of directors in July. The first ceremony, between Alex Locke and Chad Hewitt, is already planned for October 2010. Despite the name, the Conservative Jews reject a fundamentalist teachings and in 2006 ruled [...]

With same-sex marriage becoming legal just across the southern border, many groups concerned about the issue say its impact will be felt in Minnesota. But while marriage equality advocates hailed the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision, they were quick to note that Minnesotans shouldn’t try a legal challenge of its own.

The Marriage and Family Protection Act is getting traction at the Minnesota Capitol. Numerous legislators have added their support — so much so that a duplicate bill has been drafted in the Senate to allow for more sponsors. The legislation would create gender-neutral laws in Minnesota, allowing same-sex couples access to the same benefits legally married couples enjoy.

When she was five, Amy Johnson’s mom took her to a counter-protest at the then-new Planned Parenthood clinic on Ford Parkway in St. Paul. Her mom gave her a placard to hold, she recalls, and with three words — “Come on, honey!” — “an activist was born.” Ever since, she’s been active in the reproductive rights movement. After months of searching, OutFront Minnesota has hired Johnson, a longtime lawyer who’s helped countless GLBT families navigate the confusing world of family law, as executive director of the state’s largest public policy and advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. I recently met with Johnson at her office in the fittingly named Rainbow Building in Minneapolis to talk about the future of the GLBT movement in Minnesota, the sense of grief and urgency California’s Proposition 8 has evoked in the community and how technology might impact OutFront’s future.

Connecticut will join California and Massachusetts California and Massachusetts as states that allow same-sex couples to enjoy the full rights and responsibilities of marriage, a move that could put the issue squarely on the agenda for a presidential race that has largely ignored social wedge issues in favor of a focus on a bleak economic future.