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Table
of Contents
1.
Crystal
City Council Expands Local Human Rights Ordinance...
"sexual orientation" added to protected categories.
2.
Legislative Update... special session
begins.
3.
Farewell Party for Doug Federhart...
celebrate Doug's 12 years with OutFront Minnesota.
4.
Out at the Theater... special performance
of Entertaining Mr. Sloane will benefit OutFront
Minnesota.
5.
Inside OutFront... OutFront Minnesota
pursues public policy at the local level, too!
Crystal City Council Expands Local
Human Rights Ordinance
At
its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 17, the Crystal City
Council voted unanimously to update the city's human
rights ordinance, which until now had failed to include
"sexual orientation" in its list of protected
categories. Last year, OutFront Minnesota's Legal &
Policy Analyst, Phil Duran, discovered the inconsistency
between the local ordinance and the Minnesota Human
Rights Act, likely due to the city simply overlooking
the ordinance after state law was amended to include
that category. As soon as the inconsistency between was
pointed out, the folks in Crystal moved quickly to
address it. The change will formally give the Crystal
Human Rights Commission authority to address sexual
orientation- and gender identity-related issues in
Crystal, and to informally resolve complaints regarding
sexual orientation/gender identity-related
discrimination in the community.
During the same meeting, Mayor ReNae Bowman issued a
proclamation declaring June 24-26 to be Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Days in Crystal, a
resolution sought by
Twin Cities Pride. If you live in Crystal, contact
Mayor Bowman and thank her for standing up for fairness
and equality for all of Crystal's residents by updating
the human rights ordinance and signing the GLBT Pride
Proclamation. You can reach Mayor Bowman at (763)
531-1001 or
renaebowman@comcast.net.
Legislative Update
The Minnesota Legislature ended its regular session
Monday night, May 23rd, and has begun a special session
to reach conclusion on a number of pressing issues. Last
year, Senator Michele Bachmann tried up until the very
last moment of session to bypass Senate process and
bring the Anti-Marriage Constitutional Amendment up for
a floor vote. This year, the regular session adjourned
after midnight on Monday night without any mention of
the amendment or any other GLBT issue.
As the Governor, House and Senate work out their
differences about the budget, health care, and many
other issues, OutFront Minnesota will be at the Capitol
working to ensure that the Anti-Marriage Amendment and
other anti-GLBT measures stay off of the agenda. We will
keep you posted if anything happens, and next month
we'll provide a longer political analysis and review of
this past year on our website.
One issue that has not been remedied is the elimination
of state funding for the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP).
The Health Conference Committee has not removed language
from the Health Omnibus bill that eliminates funding for
MAP and impedes HIV prevention efforts for all state
funded agencies. Please see MAP’s
website for more information about what you can do
stop the cuts to HIV prevention efforts.
Farewell Party for Doug
Federhart
Join OutFront Minnesota board and staff as we celebrate
12 years of service to the GLBT Community by Doug
Federhart. Come wish Doug well in his new (and
continuing) ventures on Tuesday, June 7th from 5:30 –
7:30 PM at Spirit of the Lakes Church, 2930 13th Avenue
S, Minneapolis.
Refreshments provided. A short program will begin at
6:30.
Please RSVP to
ckauppi@outfront.org with "Doug's Party" in the
subject line or call (612) 822-0127 ext 100.
Join OutFront Minnesota
for "Out at the Theater"
You're invited to a special performance of
Entertaining Mr. Sloane to benefit OutFront
Minnesota.
Entertaining Mr. Sloane
By Joe Orton, Directed by John Clark Donahue
Thursday,
June 16th, 7:30 PM
The Jungle
Theater
2951 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis
Take a middle-aged sister and brother, fill their hearts
with greed and lust, make them a little tired of their
stubborn father, and then bring a languid young thug
into their midst who knows how to be all things to men
and women at all times. The result is totally Orton.
It's survival of the fittest, and the characters in
Orton's classic will resort to anything to get what they
want. Starring Emmy nominated Justin Kirk, supported by
Guthrie favorites Richard Igelwski, Sally Wingert, and
Jungle Theater Artistic Director Bain Boehlke.
There will be a reception immediately following the show
with the director and cast. All ticket sales directly
benefit OutFront Minnesota.
Order your tickets today! Call (612) 822-0127 or
order online.
Inside OutFront
...an
insider's view of the day-to-day work of OutFront
Minnesota...
Undeniably, most of OutFront Minnesota's public policy
work takes place at the state Legislature, where we work
to advance or defeat various pieces of legislation
affecting the GLBT community. But public policy issues
unfold at the local level as well, and our public policy
team is at work there, too.
As noted in this edition of the E-news, this month the
Crystal city council voted to include sexual orientation
in its human rights ordinance, just the latest municipal
development in which OutFront Minnesota's Legal & Policy
Analyst, Phil Duran, had a hand. In 2002, Phil helped
contribute to the drafting and passage of the
Minneapolis Equal Benefits Ordinance; the following
year, he worked with our allies on the Minneapolis City
Council to update its
domestic partner registry and other ordinances, as
well as to repeal the City's "restroom
ordinance" that had inflicted harm on transgender
residents and visitors. Shortly thereafter, he helped
lobby the Saint Paul City Council to repeal that city's
Victorian-era
"anti-cross-dressing" ordinance. Stay tuned for
upcoming developments in more Minnesota cities!
Looking for something to do?
Look
no further than OutFront Minnesota's
Community Calendar!
OutFront Minnesota's web-based community calendar is THE
place to check for events and happenings this summer.
Are you planning an event that you want the GLBT and
allied community to know about? It's easy to
submit your event! OutFront Minnesota is proud
to offer community organizations this opportunity to
reach others.
Check it out each week for more current events!
If
you received this edition of OutFront Minnesota E-News
as a forwarded message and would like to be added to our
e-mail list,
sign up
here.
Please note that in the interest of better serving our
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Support the work of Minnesota's largest GLBT political
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