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.
July 31, 2019 - MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports on racist incidents at Metcalf Middle School in Burnsville. Students and staff recount multiple experiences of racial slurs at school, including offensive words spoken by principal Shannon McParland.
August 16, 2019 - MPR’s Tarkor Zehn reports on Because Black Life Conference, which entails about a dozen workshops that explore an array of issues impacting black life. Examples of topics include being black and Muslim in the current political climate and reparations. The underlying common thread in most of the workshops is healing.
August 26, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “Students on the Move - Keeping uprooted kids in school.” A frank portrayal of the educational challenges facing kids whose housing is unstable by introducing listeners to kids experiencing homelessness, kids in migrant farmworker families, and some of the people trying to help them stay in school.
August 28, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “At a Loss for Words - What's wrong with how schools teach reading.” A look at how a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers.
October 7, 2019 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on how the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis is being forced to revisit a grim part of its past as it works to resolve lawsuits that charge it with failing to protect young people from sexual abuse.
October 8, 2019 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on how the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis is being forced to revisit a grim part of its past as it works to resolve lawsuits that charge it with failing to protect young people from sexual abuse.
December 31, 2019 - MPR’s Briana Bierschbach presents a sound montage summary of the biggest polictical story of the decade in Minnesota…the fight for passage of a same-sex marriage bill. Report includes numerous clips of the debate and outcome.
March 9, 2020 - MPR’s John Enger interviews Native American author Dennis Staples about his first novel, "This Town Sleeps." The story depicts the struggle of a gay Ojibwe man to accept a Native tradition where he rarely felt at home, while escaping a reservation he could never quite leave. It is told through the eyes of a twenty-something narrator, who bears a striking resemblance to Staples himself.