OutFront Minnesota E-News
a collection of news, notices, and action alerts for people concerned with GLBT issues in Minnesota

Thursday, November 17, 2005

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OutFront Minnesota Launches New Search Feature

As is often the case with rapidly growing web sites, the more information you make available to visitors—sometimes the harder it can become to find a particular piece of information quickly. With the OutFront Minnesota web site now approaching 400 pages of resources, organization directories, voting records, news stories, action alerts, and other useful items, we decided it was time to add a full featured search engine. We always try to keep our online resources organized, but a quick search can be helpful on occasion! Give it a try.

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OutFront Minnesota Legal Program Offering Educational Series

Every week, the OutFront Minnesota Legal Program receives inquiries from members of the GLBT community with questions about a wide range of legal issues. Now, community members have the opportunity to attend free and informal presentations by local attorneys to learn more about their rights under the law -- or challenges the laws present. The sessions are scheduled to take place in Minneapolis on Jan. 3rd, Feb. 7th, and March 7th, 2006. For more information and to register (space IS limited!), please click here: Legal Program Series.

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The Campaign has Begun and the Gloves are OFF!

Last week, the TogetherMinnesota! campaign officially started when supporters of the Minnesota "Pastors’ Summit" met at the Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN. One only needs to open a paper or tune in to a TV/radio broadcast to see how much coverage this issue is getting by the press. You also have seen some of the salvos that have been fired at the GLBT community and know that our civil rights are clearly at risk of being taken away, forcing all of us to become second-class citizens here in Minnesota.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR US ALL TO PULL TOGETHER MINNESOTA!
We all know that this war over same-sex marriage is being waged as a distraction to take all our minds off of the important political issues facing us today such as, Iraq, poverty, health insurance, education, state/federal budget problems, criminal charges by our political leaders, and so much more.

It is time for all of us to take action!  Please attend the People of Faith Meeting on November 28th and the Community Meeting on December 8th. Making your voice heard loud and clear is the first step towards helping all Minnesotans understand that we cannot allow this discrimination to continue!

Photos from the summit protest on Nov. 11th.
View larger versions in our photo gallery.

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November 28 - OutFront Minnesota and the Faith Family Fairness Alliance sponsor the next People Of Faith Roundtable

Our growingly popular roundtable will be held at Shir Tikvah, 5000 Girard Avenue S in Minneapolis from 6:30-8:30 p.m.  Are you interested in working to ensure that faith communities and people of faith are working together to create a powerful, unified movement for GLBT rights?  Please join OutFront Minnesota, the Faith Family Fairness Alliance, and many others for a People of Faith Roundtable, a monthly meeting to organize interfaith support for GLBT equality and opposition to the constitutional amendment to bar all legal recognition of same-sex couples. Register today!

Also in the community…
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
511 Groveland, Minneapolis

HENNEPIN AVENUE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH PLANS SERVICE OPPOSING NATIONAL UNITED METHODIST DECISION BARRING
HOMOSEXUAL FROM MEMBERSHIP

Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus invited to participate
Sunday, November 20, 9:30 a.m.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (November 13, 2005) – In opposition to the recent ruling of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church (the denomination’s highest court) permitting clergy to bar homosexuals from membership, Rev. Dr. Bruce Robbins, senior minister of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, will lead a Worship Service of Thanksgiving and Protest at Hennepin Church, corner of Groveland and Lyndale Avenues, on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 9:30 a.m.

On October 31, 2005, the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church ruled that a United Methodist pastor in Virginia had the right to refuse church membership to a gay man on the basis of the man’s sexual orientation.

The service on Sunday, November 20 will include an affirmation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons as well as an apology for this latest example of bigotry in the United Methodist Church.

Hennepin Church has invited the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus to participate in the service and they will perform two musical selections.

Rev. Robbins, senior minister at Hennepin Church and former General Secretary of the United Methodist General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, is deeply concerned about the message this ruling sends.

“I find this decision contrary to our denomination’s Constitution that affirms that all persons are of sacred worth and are eligible to attend worship services, participate in programs, receive the sacraments and upon taking vows, become members,” he said.

Hennepin became a Reconciling Congregation in l993 and took the traditional United Methodist message of inclusiveness even further by specifically inviting the full participation of all persons including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. “We give thanks for the diversity of our community,” said Ann Ness, Hennepin’s Lay Leader, “and welcome all people to our congregation.”

The public is invited to attend. Free parking will be available in the Guthrie/Walker ramp on Vineland Place.

Contact: Rev. Dr. Bruce Robbins, HAUMC Senior Minister, 612-875-1733
Ann Ness, HAUMC Lay Leader, 612-839-5791
Ginger Sisco, HAUMC Member, 763-544-0629

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Campaign Update:

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Unpublished Letters to the Editor

Below we have included some of the letters that may not have been published regarding the Star Tribune’s coverage and editorial of the summit. We need to continue writing to our papers and making our voice heard!

As one of the pastors who attended the recent Pastors Summit at Grace Church to discuss the anti-gay marriage amendment, I came away from the event truly bewildered. I heard speaker after speaker tell us that conservative Christians are being victimized in this debate over marriage. They sincerely believe they are under attack. And yet, no gay group is questioning Christians’ ability to marry. No gay group has suggested that we change the constitution to deny heterosexuals the right to marry. The speakers encouraged us to place a specific exclusion of rights to a small minority within the bedrock document of our state that outlines liberty and justice for all. These pastors were told to go and pressure their senators into submission to their demands. Although I found these Christian leaders sincere, I believe they are sincerely wrong. They say gay marriages are selfish because there is no possibility of children, yet I know many gay couples making wonderful parents. If having children is the test for whether someone can marry then why not ban infertile heterosexual couples and those well beyond the childbearing age? Of course, this debate is about much more than marriage. It is about an extreme religious agenda being forced upon everyone, whether they agree with it or not. It is about using old prejudices against a marginalized group as the root of all that is evil in our world. Minnesota could really do without this kind of “Christian” love. I hope that people of conscience will see through these veiled attempts to legitimize an age old prejudice that gay people still deserve to be bullied, kicked out and denied the same basic rights as everyone else enjoys.

Rev. Paul Eknes-Tucker
Senior Pastor
All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church
Minneapolis, MN

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Reflections on standing in protest outside a house of worship

Rev. David McMahill
Acting Conference Minister of the Minnesota Conference, United Church of Christ

Yesterday morning I stood with about 150 other people outside a house of worship in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to protest what was going on inside that house of worship. In my 35 ½ years of ordained ministry, I have never before imagined that I would do something like that. The denomination I have served all those years-the United Church of Christ-is a tolerant, unifying denomination. We have described ourselves for years as a "united and a uniting church."

So to stand outside a house of worship in protest was contrary to my lifetime of principled habit. When I took my place on the street corner outside of Grace Church in Eden Prairie, I swallowed hard. The stakes had to be very high to do this.

Unfortunately, they were.

Although I had not been specifically recruited to attend the "Pastor's Summit" (as were most clergy in the state) that would be happening inside, I had seen the letter of invitation, and it troubled me deeply. It troubled me to learn that inside that house of worship, in the name of God some of God's beautiful, beloved children would be demonized and therefore, discounted.

Demonized, as in "those homosexual activists", as if to call us by a name like that means somehow that we and our children and our brothers and sisters were not deserving of respect. Those "homosexual activists" happen to be tax-paying, law-abiding citizens, who are active members of their faith communities, some give blood to the blood bank every time they are asked, they volunteer their time to help people in need in their communities, they build houses for Habitat, volunteer at the Food Shelf, and much, much more. What demons.

It saddened me to learn that that gathering of religious leaders would come together not to try to figure out how to help a group of our citizens be more free or how to end poverty or racism or how to end the war in Iraq but rather they came together to plot how to make some of our citizens be less free on the pretext of protecting families. It troubled me-no, it scared me to know that rather than praying to end the things that really threaten families, such as poverty, substance abuse, family violence, bad use of too much money, and the like, they came together to place the blame for these troubles where it does not belong. This scares me because to place blame like this on one class of people is to name that class as "evil," and once you have identified them as evil, violence toward them is a short step away!

Now I doubt very much that anyone who attended the Pastor's Summit would personally engage in violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people. But identifying glbt people as evil emboldens those who will.

Those of us who stood outside the Pastor's Summit wanted to make it very clear that those leading the Summit do not by any stretch speak for all or even most of Minnesota's faith communities. We also wanted to make it clear that we cannot and will not stand by and let the objectives of that Summit go unchallenged.

Last summer, the General Synod of my denomination spoke for itself (not for anyone else) when it approved a simple resolution with 80% approval that we "affirm equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and declares that the State should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities, and commitments of legally recognized marriage."

Although I am proud that our General Synod took this extremely courageous step (and I freely acknowledge that not all of our people approved of this action), the issue of equal marriage rights and whether a ban on equal marriage rights ought to be in the state constitution is finally not an issue that ought to be decided or even fought as a matter of religious faith. The question of what ought to be in the state constitution or in statutes is a civil matter. When seen as a civil rights issue, the equation is simple. There are many legal privileges and rights associated with marriage in this country that same-gender couples do not have access to. Every time we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we make a solemn promise to pursue "liberty and justice for all." Not for some, but for all. I do not understand why conservative politicians have not gotten on board to endorse equal marriage rights as the civil rights issue that it is. Of course it would require enormous courage for conservative politicians to risk the wrath of their base, but the courage to do what is right is what patriots are made of.

This is why I stood with others on that chilly morning yesterday. This struggle is not only for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to pursue. As a happily married, heterosexual man, this is my struggle, too-as it is for all of us. The persistent lesson of history is that to diminish the rights of some diminishes us all. It is time to remember that lesson again.


Rev. David R. McMahill
Acting Conference Minister
Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ

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I'm a curious kinda guy. So I drove over to mega Grace "Church" last
Thursday afternoon, where - apparently - their Bible reads: "And Jesus told
his followers: 'I'm mad as (heck) at Ceasar and his stupid (cheney) in' laws;
let's go picket the SOB 'till he changes 'em. But, we gotta be very, Very,
VERY careful how we do it, so we don't lose our Tax Exempt Status!'". Mega
Grace's perimeter was cordoned off with police "do not cross tape", and
there appeared to be an unmarked EP Police cruiser in the lot, along with
three TV vans. Big ol' shindig. Musta been quite the event! Friday
morning's Star-Tribune caused me to think mega Grace "Church" follows their
Scriptures closely, as a story said "Attendees heard speakers...offer(ed) tips
for churches to get active without forfeiting tax-exempt status." (1)

And I understand they want to keep their tax exempt status - I mean, if they
have to pay taxes, how can mega Grace "Church" afford to spend - according
to their website - $200,000 for sets and costumes for an Easter play? (2)
Bein' a curious kinda guy, I checked with a couple of local non-profits,
and NOT to my surprise, Grace "Church" donated no cash. But, hey, I bet
those costumes were really, Really, REALLY nice!

As I understand it, these folks want to make the law reflect their Good
Book; for starters, they wanna constitutionally ban gay marriages. Without
said ban, apparently, the sanctity of marriage is gonna go down the tube and
all kinds of bad things will happen. Why, married Senior Pastors at churches
might even engage in adulterous affairs if gay marriage isn't
constitutionally outlawed! Oh, wait - mega Grace "Church" DID have a
married Senior Pastor engage in an adulterous affair. (3) But, wait again!
Gay marriage was only illegal then - it's the constitutional banning of
gay marriage that preserves the sanctity of marriage!

Bein' a curious kinda guy, Monday I called city hall, and asked for Scott
Neil's office. A nice lady answered. I asked her if Grace "Church" was
gonna get an invoice for the police services used for their political action
meeting last Thursday. She transferred me to the Police Department, where I
again asked a nice lady if Grace "Church" was gonna get a bill for services
rendered during their political action meeting. That got me transferred to
another nice lady, who - when I asked if Grace "Church" was gonna get a bill
for services rendered during their political action meeting - transferred me
again.

The short answer is, according to a nice lady at the Police Department:
Grace paid for one off-duty officer for their political action meeting, but:
they ain't gonna get no bill for the rest of the police services their
political action meeting required - even though I pointed out that Grace
"Church" does NOT pay taxes.

Pretty nice gig, eh? Claim you're a church, invite a whole bunch of pastors
n' preachers from across the state to your political action meeting, tell
them what to preach from their pulpits so gay marriage can be
constitutionally banned, even offer tips on how to maintain that
all-important tax exempt status, and top it off with a big banquet! You
know, feed the multitudes! And if there are any problems with some rowdy
unbelievers? No problemo; call the cops! It's why you don't pay taxes!
City services, without a bill! Like I said, a good gig - if you can keep
it.

As a Christian, I am appalled at the political action meeting "hosted" by
Grace "Church". As an American citizen, and taxpayer, I am outraged. It's
one thing for a Pastor, or Preacher, to tell the flock; "Our Good Book says
this is wrong; go forth and witness to the world what we believe." It's
over the line when a Pharisee tells the fleeced: "We need for the heathen
and great unwashed to be governed by our Good Book. They may not believe in
His word, but by God, they're gonna live by His laws! Verily go forth and
lobby your legislators!!!"

Clearly to me, Grace "Church" is just another political action committee,
let alone a boorish neighbor. If you feel as I do, the IRS address to
complain about Grace Church's perceived violation of tax exempt status is:

IRS
TE / GE
P. O. Box 2508
Cincinatti OH 45201

(signed)
Thomas Johnson

(1) http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5720160.html
(2) "With the decision of a new senior pastor having been made, the Fall
Missions Festival raised over $1.7 million to support outreach programs
throughout the world, which included a one-time contribution of $200,000 to
purchase sets and costumes needed for the new Easter drama, Son of God-Son
of Man, scheduled to debut in 2004."
(3) "Yesterday John Eagen resigned as pastor of Grace Church. The reason
for the resignation was a personal moral failure in the form of marital
infidelity."

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I watched as much coverage of the 'Summit' and protest as I could yesterday on various TV news casts. One thing really caught my eye.

A pastor said that rising crime rates, increasing poverty and some other social ills are due in large part to the breakdown in marriage. He immediately went on to say that a constitutional ban on gay marriage would help reverse that trend. We can counter that specious claim, but we need to look beyond the obvious that there can be no link between banning gay marriage and these social ills.

What concerns me is that this guy, and probably the folks who coached him and are backing the amendment campaign, have heard our side chastise them for distracting us from meaningful issues like poverty, healthcare, jobs, etc. They are listening and spinning the issue back.

This guy came off sounding like he IS concerned about poverty and crime, that his 'solution' of banning gay marriage WILL address these deeper social ills. Its BS, but it could gain traction at least with some people, particularly in the shallow medium of TV. My opinion, I do think we need to recognize this new approach and counter it clearly -- and I'd like to help with that if I can.

--- Ralph Wyman

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I find it very difficult to believe that you would include the November 7th column by Katherine Kersten as serious reporting. The arguments she puts forth and facts she uses to support it are so specious that it is ridiculous.

To wit:

A proposal to preserve marriage..is one of the biggest issues our state will face. Baloney! It is being used as a hot-button issue by the "religious" right to keep their power base frightened enough that they'll continue to support hate-filled individuals like Michelle Bachmann.

Using a Catholic Bishop as her only source of information is about as slanted a reporting method as you can get. Certainly a Catholic Bishop speaks for the Catholic credo. However with the persistent scandals that the Catholic clergy has been experiencing, at times it seems jaundiced to accept them as the one and only moral authority.

Bishop Henry's statement that "today in Canada a social revolution is underway." Again, laughable. One would think that Canadian society is breaking down, morals are being corrupted, everyone should feel threatened by the fact that two caring individuals are able to make a legal commitment to one another.
The greater threat to the institution of marriage is the acceptance of divorce, and the breakdown of legal marriages, not the legalization of another form of marriage. Reducing the 50+ per cent divorce rate ought to be the target for the Catholic clergy.

Kersten's quote "When marriage is redefined, other social institutions are likewise transformed" has not a lick of proof to support it. Henry's scaremongering about Canadian schools "becoming battle-ground", "promotion of same-sex marriage in elementary schools", etc. are indeed intolerant, indefensible, and homophobic.
If there is such a societal breakdown, why does Henry argue that "only a small fraction of gay Canadians have taken advantage of their new right"? Where are the numbers, and I mean hard data rather than an example of attendance at a same-sex marriage preparation course in Calgary. Is it mandatory in Calgary to participate in such a course? If so the example may have some validity, otherwise, it is again a specious argument.

Attempting to enforce ones views on the population as a whole is contrary to the basic precepts that formed this country. To follow the same simplistic argument line, due to the fact that a majority of people dislike the taste of pickled pigs feet, our society and its mores are threatened by having them for sale at you local grocery store.

Our constitution (Amendment XIV Section 1) states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

By trying to deny equal rights to the GLBT community, I would submit that these individuals are committing an illegal act.

Ms. Kersten's scare-mongering about same-sex marriages affecting your marriage is simply stupid. As a happily married heterosexual, both my wife and I strongly support our gay friends, and feel that their rights are being denied. Should these friends indeed be allowed to marry (or even form some sort of legalized civil union) it would merely affirm the depth of their commitment to one another, not affect in any way my marriage or my commitment to my wife.

Paul Schultz

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Dear Mr. Tice,
Please print this letter to the editor in the Star Tribune's next issue.

“Matter That Is Newsworthy”

After reading Katherine Kersten's Nov. 7 column, "North of the border, gay marriage spurs social revolution”, I was appalled at how an article that was so biased and opinionated could appear on the front page of the Local News section of the Star Tribune. In this article, Kersten argues that Canada’s same-sex marriage law is a definitive example of how gay marriage will negatively affect heterosexual marriage. Kersten cites several quotes in this article from opponents of same-sex marriage but not a single quote or coverage about the proponents’ viewpoints. The lack of factual information, biased language and reporting clearly makes this an “opinion” article not a “news” article worthy of the “local news headlines”. News is defined in the dictionary as “information of a recent event or development; matter that is newsworthy”. Nothing in the definition of news refers to or implies “opinions or speculations”. The first three sentences of the Associated Press Ethics Code for Managing Editors read: “The good newspaper is fair, accurate, honest, responsible, independent and decent. Truth is its guiding principle. It avoids practices that would conflict with the ability to report and present news in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner.” So why is the Star Tribune printing one-sided, opinion articles on the front page of the Local News? I spoke with Star Tribune reader’s representative, Kate Parry, about this matter. According to Parry, the columnists for the paper are “opinion” writers and are not required to write unbiased stories even in the “news” sections of the paper. Kate also told me that at one time the Star Tribune did print these opinion columns related to the local news further inside this section of the paper but then the Star Tribune changed to using the front page of the local news section to conform with what other large newspapers are doing and to avoid being “laughed at” by the other papers. To me this seems like the wrong way to run a newspaper. Maybe it’s time to reread the AP Ethics Code and to keep “opinion” articles in the “opinion” section and put the “news” back into the “news” section. The focus of the newspaper should be on matters that are newsworthy. I think retracting Katherine Kersten’s Nov. 7 "opinion" column is a great place to start!

MJ (MaryJean) Kroll

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Change is inevitable. Unfortunately, Ms Katherine Kersten’s column on Nov 11, 2005 illustrates a point of view that change should be feared and avoided. She seeks to use fear and extreme examples to build an argument against the inevitable change toward the inclusion of same-sex marriage.

Marriage as an institution has undergone significant change across time. Graff for example, in his book “What is Marriage for? The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution” has illustrated how marriage has changed over the millennia. As a social institution, marriage reflects the needs of society in the given culture and context of that society. It is inevitable that as society changes, marriage will continue to respond to the new needs of the time. This was true 3000, 2000, 1000 years ago and it is true today. Women were once seen as property exchanged in the (Western European) “marriage.” This outdated view of marriage has changed to see marriage as an expression of love and commitment between a man and a woman. So to in the new millennium, marriage will be seen as an expression of love and commitment between two individuals. Such change is a natural progression in the history of marriage.

The continuing change in recognizing same-sex marriage includes the best aspects of the institution of marriage. These aspects of marriage include: the “rights” conferred by marriage regarding protection of property; the expression of love and commitment between two people; providing authority for health care decisions; stabilization of the family unit to raise children. So why not use the opportunity of same-sex marriage to strengthen the institution of marriage rather than using fear in a vain attempt to fight what is inevitable?

While change is inevitable, it is not always easy. In the process of change, a wise person acknowledges that mistakes will be made by both sides. Just examine, for example how many mistakes were made in the women’s movement and the civil rights movement. The mistakes, nevertheless, did not diminish the positive value of these changes for society. The same is true in the “gay” rights movement.

Weston M Edwards, PhD.
Licensed Psychologist
Executive Director
Sexual Health Institute, LLC

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For Social Revolution, Look to Kansas

Katherine Kersten is right about one thing. There is a social revolution rolling toward Minnesota. But to see it, don't look to Canada. Look south. To Kansas.

At Thursday's Pastor's Summit, fundamentalist Christian organizers from Kansas came to train Minnesota allies to take over our state's politics. A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is only the first step.

In Kansas, conservatives used the issue to unseat a quarter of their Legislature. It is clear that electoral victory is the real goal in Minnesota also. The Legislature, Governor's office, Congressional Representatives, and open U.S. Senate seat are all at stake. If these extremists gain control of our Legislature, they have an ambitious agenda, from severely restricting divorce to reducing environmental laws. Of course they will ramp up efforts to block legal abortions.

The Kansas Board of Education has shown what Fundamentalists intend for Minnesota's international leadership in science education, promoting their version of creationism and attacking good science. Their Texas brethren twist the Bible to claim it forbids most income taxes as well as minimum wage laws.

Minnesota has a proud heritage of innovation and a commitment to equality. People of faith from across the political spectrum belong in the civic dialog. Yet a right-wing agenda from select pulpits, influenced by our southern neighbors, is not the way forward.

Rich and Susan Cairn, Parents, Minneapolis
Ralph Wyman, son and grandson of Minnesotans, Minneapolis

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Looking for something to do?
Events of interest to the GLBT and allied community.

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Check it out each week for more current events!

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