Tag Archives: Minnesota

One of President Obama’s openly gay appointees has passed muster in the Senate. Minnesota’s next U.S. Marshal will be Minneapolis’ openly gay Assistant Police Chief Sharon Lubinski. Her confirmation by the U.S. Senate was announced Monday morning by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, who recommended her. Lubinkski was formally nominated for the post in October by President Barack Obama and confirmed …

“That statute is not worded the way it should be. I said I regretted the vote later because it included things like cross-dressing, and a variety of other people involved in behaviors that weren’t based on sexual orientation, just a preference for the way they dressed and behaved. So it was overly broad. So if you are a third-grade teacher …

A Quaker group in Minneapolis-St.Paul has announced that they will no longer certify marriages until the right is granted to everybody. “We’re simply trying to be consistent with the will of God as we perceive it,” said Paul Landskroener, clerk of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting, in an interview with MPR’s All Things Considered on Monday. The congregation will continue …

A survey conducted by the University of Minnesota reveals that young people continue to hold “traditional” values regarding love, monogamy, and commitment – regardless of their sexual orientation. “Given increases in cohabitation, divorce and debates about same sex marriage, it is easy to think that traditional relationship values have gone out the window,” said Ann Meier, U of M sociology …

Sen. Al Franken amused the audience at the Minnesota State Fair by demonstrating that he can draw the complete map the Unites States, including the Great Lakes and all state lines, from memory.

“We all need to consider that in God’s timing that he may have allowed us, as members of Congress, to be in the position that we’re in just for this specific issue right now. Everything that all of us have worked together and labored for over the years, all of it could be undermined with this one bill. President Obama …

“If I felt that’s what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it. When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I’ve said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That’s really my standard. If I am called to …

A Minneapolis-area high school junior has been awarded a $25K settlement after two teacher harassed him and made him the brunt of classroom jokes about his perceived sexual orientation. The boy’s “fence swings both ways,” teacher Diane Cleveland commented during a class in the 2007-2008 school year, according to an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. When the …

JMG reader Sean Chapin forwards us this press release from the Minneapolis Police Department, who says that it wasn’t one of their officers ignoring the gay man being verbally harassed by a group of homophobic teens and children outside of Twin Cities Pride. June 30, 2009 ( MINNEAPOLIS ) Currently, there is a video on YouTube of an incident that …

After a legal battle that has lasted for more than half a year, Al Franken will at last be seated in the U.S. Senate, giving the Democrats a filibuster proof 60 seats. The Minnesota Supreme Court has just issued its long-awaited judgment in the Senate race, declaring that Democrat Al Franken is the winner. The unanimous decision was released after …

JMG reader Bryan sends us this clip of a group of Somalian immigrant children harassing a gay man as he walks home from Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis. Listen as they shout “I hate gay people!” “Fuck gay people!” and other epithets. The man maintains his composure beautifully.

And it only took 164 days! Over five months after the election, a three-judge panel has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race. The judges–Hennepin County’s Denise Reilly, Pennington County’s Kurt Marben and Stearns County’s Elizabeth Hayden–issued their final ruling late Monday, stating “Franken received the highest number of lawfully cast ballots in the Nov. …

You can stop worrying about global warming or nuclear war, the Minnesota Family Council will save us all. The Minnesota Family Council says it will introduce an amendment banning same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships in Minnesota in the next few days. The group announced the new amendment push at a press conference with fundamentalist religious leaders on Tuesday. …

Openly gay Minnesota Republican state Sen. Paul Koering is under fire for refusing to support same-sex marriage because the state has “more important” items on the agenda. Koering is getting a lot of understandable flack from his fellow gays and this, in part, is how his assistant is responding to complaining emails: I can testify all day long about how …

Minnesota gay Republican state Sen. Paul Koering won’t support same-sex marriage. Because the state is too busy with important things. State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, told KLKS on Friday that he will not vote for the Marriage and Family Protection Act, a bill that would make Minnesota’s marriage laws gender-neutral, allowing same-sex couples many of the rights currently denied …

It looks like the long count/recount may be finally over as today Al Franken is scheduled to be formally declared the winner of his bitter Senate fight with Norm Coleman. Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state …

A Minnesota court has refused to allow former Sen. Larry “Wide Stance” Craig to withdraw his guilty plea from his sex-sting arrest in the Minneapolis airport. Craig responds: “I am extremely disappointed by the action of the Minnesota Court of Appeals,” Craig (R-ID) said in a statement. “I disagree with their conclusion and remain steadfast in my belief that nothing …

Al Franken continues to refuse to concede in his Senate bid in Minnesota. The vote gap between Senate candidates Norm Coleman and Al Franken fluctuated throughout the day Thursday, with Franken closing to within 236 votes by Thursday evening. The fluctuations are normal, said a spokesman at the Secretary of State’s office, as county’s double check their work and report …

This may be the last you see of Sen. Larry Craig. Here’s a short bit of his final address to the Senate yesterday. It was just last year that Sen. Larry E. Craig riveted political Washington with his arrest in an airport sex sting and subsequent public declaration, “I am not gay.” On Thursday, there was much less hubbub — …