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 19, 1991 - MPR’s Paula Schroeder interviews Ann DeGroot, executive director of Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council; and Robert Johnson, a social activist. DeGroot and Johnson discuss the push to create better community relations between gay and lesbian community and Minneapolis Police Department.
October 28, 1991 - On this Midday program, Dan Olson hosts a discussion about gay rights in Minnesota. Guests are Tracy Elftmann, deputy commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights; Emma Hixson, executive director of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights; and Larry Meyer, St. Cloud city council member. Guests also answer listener questions.
November 1, 1991 - MPR’s Dan Olson takes a look at gay and lesbian discrimintation in Minnesota and the opposing viewpoints on expanding Minnesota Human Rights Act or various city ordinances that include protections for the gay and lesbian community.
November 4, 1991 - As voters prepare to go to the polls on November 5th to decide on gay rights ordinance repeal, MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the positions in the debate over human rights protection for gays and lesbians in St. Paul.
November 6, 1991 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the vote results of St. Paul gay and lesbian rights ordinance repeal. Roberts visits the Prom Expo Center in St. Paul, election headquarters for Campaign 90s, the group supporting the ordinance, to get reactions. Roberts also contacts spokesperson for Citizen’s Alert, a group behind the repeal effort.
November 6, 1991 - Karen Clark, Minnesota House representative from District 60A, discusses legislative efforts at State Capitol to secure gay rights statewide. Clark also comments on local efforts; notably the gay and lesbian rights ordinance repeal in St. Paul.
November 18, 1991 - MPR’s Gary Eicthen interviews Ann DeGroot, executive director of Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council, about the public campaign efforts to have state legislature expand the Minnesota Human Rights Act to include gay and lesbians. DeGroot says educating is a key in developing support and building allies in the larger Minnesota community.
November 30, 1991 - MPR’s Jim Wishner interviews Elissa Raffa and another local activist on the creation of District 202, a Minneapolis drop-in center for LGBT youth to utilize as a safe public space for socialization.
January 11, 1992 - Kim Hines, a local playwright, discusses her play "Who Was I The Last Time I Saw You? A Play in Four Lives." Topics in play include social issues in the Black and gay communities. Hines highlights two characters (80 year-old Mavis & 10 year-old Christy) and performs excerpts from play.
February 27, 1992 - MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with Patti Abbott, a crime/victim advocate for the Minnesota Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council (GLCAC), about organization’s part in assisting Minneapolis police find suspect of recent murders of gay men in Minneapolis.