As leaders of 2SLGBTQIA+ led and serving organizations in Minnesota we join our shared communities in grief and solidarity in the wake of the tragic killing of Renee Nicole Good by federal agents and amid continuing federal operations terrorizing our state.

We are devastated for Renee’s wife Becca, for her children, and for all those who knew her.

Minnesota is heartbroken.


Minnesota is grieving.


But Minnesota remains strong.

We celebrate how members of our shared communities have stood together to support our beautifully diverse communities in times of challenge and have taken actions to speak out against injustice and protect all those who call Minnesota home. How we continue to show up in the streets, in our halls of power, and in our neighborhoods with care for one another.

 

Our communities keep each other safe.


Renee was a member of our state’s LGBTQ+ community, and we know that wherever we live, LGBTQ+ communities share uniquely in this heartbreak.

 

But we also recognize that the ongoing attacks on our communities are most acutely affecting our beloved immigrant and refugee communities and anyone who is perceived to be part of them. We specifically recognize the appalling injustice and injury of members of our Native communities—who have lived on this soil for generations—who have been detained in operations on suspicion of immigration violations. And we recognize the continued injustices to our Somali, Latino, Southeast Asian and Hmong communities; as well as to our Black and Native communities who have all too often been the target of state and systemic violence. 

 

We know this is only one of many deaths ICE is responsible for causing. The harmful and indiscriminate operations that are taking place now are deeply impacting the safety and well being of our communities, businesses, schools, and places of care and worship. They make all of us less safe. And they must stop.

 

Renee should still be alive today. And all those who have been detained and displaced should be home with their families. We are witnesses to an ongoing injustice. And we are clear in our shared calls.

 

Our organizations stand together with our immigrant friends and neighbors in this time of continued harm and with our state’s LGBTQ+ communities in condemning this terrible and tragic killing.

 

We reaffirm that Minnesota is a place of welcome and inclusion. And we are not giving up on each other.

 

This moment calls for more than words. And as we work to support Renee’s family, all those affected by these ongoing operations, and the critical work of supporting our 2SLGBTQIA+ communities - we call for those in power to take action.

 

We call for:

  • ICE to leave Minnesota and cease these harmful operations throughout communities across the nation.
  • A full, fair, and complete investigation conducted in cooperation with state and local partners; to ensure trust and bring those responsible for this death to justice.
  • The immediate stop to the sharing of dangerous misinformation and rhetoric about this tragedy, our state’s richly diverse communities, and the many tragedies that Minnesota has experienced.

In addition, we call on:

  • Our leaders in Congress to clearly call out the harms and to take urgent action to end these dangerous enforcement actions across this country.
  • Our state leaders to support our most at risk neighbors by placing an emergency pause on evictions and providing assistance to businesses and individuals struggling.
  • Our local leaders to strengthen and enforce separation ordinances and other local efforts to protect our communities.

We are beyond devastated to know that the safety and care Renee and Becca sought to find for their family when they moved to Minnesota has been irreparably shattered.

But we are more committed than ever to the shared work to continue to build a state where we all are safe, supported, and able to live our full and authentic lives.

We urge our communities to take to heart the words of Renee’s wife, Becca Good, who shared in a larger statement that we encourage you to read in full:

“Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow…Renee’s legacy is one of kindness and love. We honor her memory by living her values: rejecting hate and choosing compassion, turning away from fear and pursuing peace, refusing division and knowing we must come together to build a world where we all come home safe to the people we love.”

We must reject hate.

We must choose compassion.

We must build a world where we all come home safe to the people we love.

There is no safety for some of us until there is safety for all of us.

As organizations, as leaders, as communities, we are committed to that work.

In grief. In love. In solidarity.

Minnesota LGBTQ+ Organizations

Aliveness Project

Clare Housing

East Central MN Pride

Family Tree Clinic

Gender Justice

Minnesota People Of Color LGBT Pride

MN Transgender Health Coalition

Our Space

OutFront Minnesota

PFLAG Greater Twin Cities South

PFLAG Mora Area/East Central MN

PFLAG Plainview/Wabasha County

PFund Foundation

Prism Organizing Network
Queermunity Collaborative

QUEERSPACE Collective

Quorum

RARE Productions

RECLAIM

TIGERRS

Trans Northland

Transforming Families

Twin Cities Pride

 

Joined by the following state-based and national LGBTQ+ Organizations

Advocates for Trans Equality

AFFA Action

Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP)

BlaqOut, Incorporated

Basic Rights Oregon

Campaign for Southern Equality

COLAGE

Equality California

Equality Connecticut

Equality Federation

Equality Florida

Equality Illinois

EqualityMaine

Equality New Mexico

Equality North Carolina

Equality Ohio

Equality Texas

Equality Virginia

Fair Wisconsin

Fairness Campaign

Family Equality

Freedom Oklahoma

Garden State Equality

Georgia Equality

GLAAD

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law)
GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality

GSAFE

Human Rights Campaign

interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth

Lambda Legal

MassEquality

National Center for LGBTQ Rights

National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund

NBJC

North Dakota Human Rights Coalition

One Colorado

One Iowa

PFLAG Grinnell/Poweshiek

PFLAG National

PROMO Missouri

SAGE

Silver State Equality

Tennessee Equality Project

Transformations Project South Dakota

Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT)

Transgender Law Center

Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico

Wyoming Equality