LGBTQ+ life in Minnesota is a chronological collection of stories that provide a glimpse into the history and sometimes turbulent nature of the LGBTQ+ experience in the state. This curation is not to highlight individual Minnesotans based on their orientation, but rather to present voices of and on the LGBTQ+ community…as it relates to the enduring fight for civil rights, societal achievements, and the act of many in attaining acceptance and inclusion in towns, family, healthcare, church, education, politics, arts, and the workplace.
August 8, 2017 - MPR’s Brandt Williams looks back at Janeé Harteau's groundbreaking tenure as the first woman to serve as Minneapolis police chief…and the first openly gay chief.
November 8, 2017 - On Tuesday, NOV 7th, 2017, voters elected two out transgender candidates to the Minneapolis City Council, marking the first such victories for transgender people in a major American city council race. Report includes an interview with then-candidate Andrea Jenkins.
January 31, 2018 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on the latest production of Twenty Percent Theater Company’s "The Naked I." The show brings together the stories and experiences of people who self-identify as trans, queer, or otherwise gender non-conforming.
May 7, 2018 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann interviews Kelly Holstine, an English teacher at Tokata Learning Center in Shakopee, about being selected as the 2018 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
May 29, 2018 - MPR’s Marianne Combs profiles Patrick’s Cabaret, a local Minneapolis creative venue that is closing its doors. Since 1986, Patrick’s Cabaret has provided a space for artists to develop new work. The queer-led organization has focused on supporting emerging artists of diverse backgrounds and artists whose work didn’t fit into more traditional molds. Now, with the institution closing, there is concern at what’s being lost and why.
July 12, 2018 - MPR’s Briana Bierschbach reports on the Pink Pistols, an LGBT gun rights group with chapters in dozens of cities across the nation. It's been around in Minnesota for nearly two decades, hosting meetings at the gun range roughly once a month.
January 11, 2019 - MPR’s Marianne Combs talks with Susan Kimberly about her play "When Superman Became Lois Lane." At its heart, the play is a conversation between the person she was and the person she is. Kimberly is transgender and transitioned from male to female in 1983 before serving as deputy mayor of St. Paul under Norm Coleman in the mid-90s.
June 24, 2019 - On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn raid in New York, which ignited multiple days of protests and garnered the attention of the media across the country, Michael McConnell reflects on the fight for gay rights that was happening in Minnesota at that time. F.R.E.E. — "Fight Repression of Erotic Expression" — was formed in Minneapolis weeks before the now-famous riots.
July 25, 2019 - The Subversive Sirens, a gold-medal winning Minnesota-based synchronized swimming team is working to promote LGBTQ-inclusiveness and equity in swimming, body positivity and queer visibility. Team member Jae Hyun Shim, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, discusses group’s efforts.
October 11, 2019 - MPR’s Alisa Roth reports that Minneapolis and St. Paul are proposing new city ordinances that would ban gay conversion therapy, the controversial treatment designed to change people’s sexual orientation or sexual identity.