MPR Archive presents a selection of stories tied to various the aspects, history, and battles for civil rights of individuals and groups within the State of Minnesota.
July 22, 2013 - MPR’s Sasha Aslanian looks at discussions happening in different religious communities in the state after same-sex marriage became law. Religious institutions played a big role in the long, emotional and sometimes contentious debate Minnesotans had leading up to the Legislature's vote to legalize same-sex marriage. While churches are not required to perform same-sex weddings, Minnesota law against discrimination based on sexual orientation does apply to others who might play a role in wedding celebrations.
August 1, 2013 - MPR’s Sasha Aslanian reports on the first legally wed same-sex marriages performed just after midnight on August 1st, 2013. Report includes clips and interviews from ceremonies at Minneapolis City Hall.
September 12, 2013 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on a longtime teacher at a Catholic school in Fridley who says she was fired after she told other teachers she's in a same-sex relationship. It's the second high profile departure from Totino-Grace High School in recent months. The school's president resigned this summer after announcing he was in a same-sex relationship.
August 22, 2014 - MPR’s Sasha Aslanian reports that a private hunting club in Little Falls, Minnesota, has agreed to pay for the wedding ceremony and reception of a same-sex couple it refused to accommodate.
September 18, 2014 - The Daily Circuit presents a transgender panel discussion moderated by MPR’s Marrianne Combs. The group discuss that for many whose gender doesn’t conform to the traditional image of male or female, the barriers to success…and sometimes even to basic survival, are everywhere.
July 16, 2015 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with Jack Baker and Michael McConnell, who made history in 1970 when they walked into the Hennepin County Courthouse and became the first same-sex couple in the country to apply for a marriage license.
September 21, 2015 - MPR’s Laura Yuen and Mukhtar Ibrahim profile Amir Meshal, a Bloomington man who is under both U.S. government and community scrutiny. They present a complicated story.
July 14, 2016 - People in our community are expressing their feelings about the death of Philando Castile in many ways. 15 local poets gathered at the Penumbra Theater in St. Paul for a community reading. It was part of Black Poets Speak Out, a poetry-driven protest that began after the death of Michael Brown in 2014.
November 20, 2016 - MPR’s Lorna Benson reports on a Ramsey County court ruling that Minnesota's refusal to cover transition-related surgeries violates the state constitution. State lawmakers enacted the ban in 2005, selling it as a cost-saving measure, and it only applied to people receiving state Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare benefits.
May 25, 2017 - MPR presents 74 Seconds: The Traffic Stop, a step by step through a fatal traffic stop, which went from flashing lights to firing shots in just 74 seconds.