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January 22, 2019

This morning the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow Trump’s discriminatory ban on transgender military service members to go into effect while further litigation proceeds.

OutFront Minnesota’s Communications Coordinator and United States Air Force veteran, Jacob Thomas (Tech. Sgt. | served: 2008-2016), released the following statement:

“This President continues to show how unpatriotic he truly is and that he does not care about our military members and veterans. Military leaders already know that transgender people serving has no adverse effect on military readiness, morale or unit cohesion. Nevertheless, Trump and his discrimination administration continue to vilify and attack transgender people...

January 10, 2019

Democratic Rep. Hunter Cantrell of Savage is reviving the proposed ban in the state House. Gov. Tim Walz backs the proposal.

January 7, 2019

My name is Roger Sanchez. I was brought up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormons.

When I was fourteen, my father confronted me and asked if I had “same-sex attraction.” I denied it. Still, my father scolded me for being effeminate and my church bishop told me to control my mannerisms.

In 2006, when I came forward about my “same-sex attraction” the church bishop recommended “conversion therapy.”

My father told me the natural man is an enemy of god. I had nowhere else to turn so like a lamb to the slaughter I consented to conversion therapy.

January 3, 2019

(FOX 9) - The new U.S. House and Senate are underway in Washington as the 116th Congress was gaveled in, including four new representatives from Minnesota.

One hundred women were sworn in Thursday, including two from Minnesota - Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar. Craig, who is openly gay, joins Omar, the first Somali and refugee to be elected to Congress.

They make up a freshman class that this country has never seen before.

November 29, 2018

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A video posted to Facebook is going viral as it appears to show a Twin Cities transgender teen being confronted in a bathroom by school staff, who at one point open a stall door as she’s sitting on the toilet.

November 29, 2018

“I’ve had many days of my life when I wanted to just die.”

Wil Sampson-Bernstrom was a teenager in Alabama in 2007 when he attended a conference run by Exodus International – the largest “ex-gay” Christian organization at the time. That was one of his first experiences with conversion therapy.

Now an ordained minister who lives in south Minneapolis with his husband, he remembers being separated from his parents and forced to sit through hours and hours of classes. He doesn’t remember clearly what all the instructors told him. Some said the reason he thought he liked boys was because of some grave error his parents made raising him – that they were going to make him right again. Some tried to cure him of being gay by making him act and talk a certain way – to sit without crossing his legs, to speak with a certain voice.

November 16, 2018

“Conversion therapy is a so-called mental health treatment that aims to change a person because of their sexuality or gender expression,” said Cat Salonek, policy director for OutFront Minnesota.

The American Psychiatric Association has said it opposes any treatment based on the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder.

Salonek says an official ban on conversion therapy would help prevent issues LGBTQ youth face, including depression, substance abuse and suicide.

“Having a young person medicalized, institutionalized just for being who they are is traumatizing,” Salonek said.

November 14, 2018

A newly elected member of the Minnesota House has announced that he is going to work toward the state banning so-called conversion therapy for gay people.

State Rep.-elect Hunter Cantrell said successful legislative action would make Minnesota the 15th state to prohibit the practice, which aims to change the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians but has been discredited by mainstream mental health experts.

October 3, 2018

A third gender option is available for Minnesotans applying for driver's licenses.

In addition to "M" and "F," "X" can now be checked by any applicant who does not want to identify as male or female.
The change puts Minnesota in the company of Maine, Oregon, California, Washington and the District of Columbia. A statement issued by the Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) division said it "was a business decision to offer a third option to better serve all Minnesotans."

October 2, 2018

The new option to identify as non-binary, a term used by people who choose to not identify as male or female, came with the rollout of new driver’s license software on Monday allowing people to register for Real IDs — the state’s new-strength ID that meets federal standards for citizens to fly and enter some federal sites.