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OutFront Minnesota's Pride Pavilion at Twin Cities Pride on June
26-27th was a terrific success, even with the brief rain shower on
Sunday morning! In our new, central location in Loring Park, thousands
of Pride-goers visited the Pavilion to learn more about OutFront
Minnesota's many programs for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
community and its allies throughout Minnesota, and to take part in our
now-famous "marble poll" on a variety of
GLBT-related questions. You can visit our
photo gallery with a few snapshots
from this weekend.
In addition, OutFront Minnesota staff and volunteers were hard at
work engaging attendees in conversation about the upcoming critical
elections in November. As a result, we registered nearly 650 voters, and
gathered a whopping 4,344 signatures on our petition to the Minnesota
House of Representatives! We are well on our way to exceeding the
success of our signature-gathering on a petition to Gov. Pawlenty, which
resulted in nearly 15,000 signatures being delivered to his office in
May.
We can't thank enough the various organizations and individuals who
helped make Twin Cities Pride such a great success for OutFront
Minnesota! Thank you Twin Cities Pride Committee , America Coming
Together (ACT), America Votes, Resource Center of the Americas, Jewish
Community Action, Dinner for America and Wellstone Action for helping to
make Twin Cities Pride such a powerful step on the path to justice and
fairness for GLBT Minnesotans.
OutFront Minnesota would also like to express our deepest gratitude
to the 100+ dedicated volunteers who worked so many long cold hours to
make 2004 Pride successful.
Highlights:
- An estimated 2,100 people participated in the OutFront Minnesota
Pride Poll where visitors cast their opinions of a variety of topics
from politics to demographics.
- Volunteers and Board Members passed out 2,000 OutFront Minnesota
Pride Bags, pre-stuffed with Power Pages, voter information, and the
2004 OutFront Minnesota Program Guide.
- With staff and volunteers in the Pride Pavilion, along the
Parade Route, and in all three Pride Information Booths, OutFront
Minnesota registered nearly 650 people to vote, up from just 80 in
2003, a non-Federal election year.
- In addition, for those already registered to vote, 4,334
Minnesotans signed the
Minnesota
Speaks OUT Petition, demanding equal rights for GLBT Minnesotans
from the leaders and members of the Minnesota House of
Representatives.
- Using pushpins to mark their home, the Pride Visitor Locator Map
demonstrated to elected officials that gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender and allied Minnesotans are indeed in every county in the
state!
- The OutFront Minnesota Pride Pavilion Coffee House featured
refreshments and a place to sit and relax to hundreds of visitors.
Suburban Pride Proclamations
Stir Controversy:
This year, the folks at
Twin Cities Pride
were busy gathering Pride proclamations not only from Minneapolis and
Saint Paul, but also from a number of local governments covering major
parts of the Twin Cities suburban area. This is very useful work, given
the general assumption that GLBT people (and consequently GLBT issues
and awareness) are less visible in the suburbs. OutFront Minnesota
salutes the work of Twin Cities Pride in making this effort to give
suburban communities an opportunity to participate in Pride!
Unfortunately, not all people are as supportive. OutFront Minnesota
has learned that some in the area are putting pressure on local
officials in Eagan, chastising them for joining other municipalities in
acknowledging June as GLBT Pride Month. These suburban leaders who took
a stand in recognition of Pride need to hear from our community that we
appreciate their statements!
Please take a moment or two to contact the elected officials in the
communities below - particularly Eagan - to thank them for their Pride
Proclamations:
Minneapolis (Mayor Rybeck)
Minneapolis (City Council)
Saint
Paul (Mayor Kelley)
Saint
Paul (City Council)
Richfield
(click on "elected officials" and then "mayor and council members")
Eagan
Minnetonka
(click on "inside city hall")
Hennepin County
Results Of Our Annual Pride Poll:
How do you self-identify?
32% Gay
32% Lesbian
17% Bisexual
14% Ally
3% Queer
2% Transgender
.4% Intersex
If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?
96% Kerry
3.3% Nader
.9% Other
.1% Bush
Who should be the GLBTA candidate for Vice-President
35% Margaret Cho
27% Carson Kressley
20% Martina Navratilova
10% RuPaul
5% Kate Bornstein
3.5% "Justin" from Queer as Folk
Will you attend GLBT Lobby Day 2005?
54% No
46% Yes
Are you registered to vote at your current address
86% Yes
14% No
Who would make financial and medical decisions for you in an
emergency?
48% My partner
28% My parents
22% I don't know
2% My physician
Are you out at work?
75% Yes
25% No
Have you ever been harassed or assaulted because you are GLBTA?
41% Yes, recently
37% No, never
22% Yes, more than 3 years ago
If you have a faith community, is it supportive and affirming?
62% Yes
38% No
Does your school or campus have a GLBTQA organization?
92% Yes
8% No
What motivates you to volunteer?
48% Feeling like I'm making a difference
32% Meeting great people
13% Free food
7% Other
Describe your relationship with OutFront Minnesota.
37% Current Member
34% Heard of OutFront but never made a donation
17% Donated a while ago but not a current member
9% Never heard of OutFront Minnesota before today
3% Center Circle member
Which is the most important issue currently facing Minnesota's GLBT
community?
43% Stopping amendments to ban recognition of same-sex
relationships
29% Securing civil marriage equality
10% Enacting policies to make schools more safe and affirming
10% Funding HIV/AIDs programs and research
10% Preventing violence against GLBT community members
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