Bachmann sponsors anti-LGBT adoption bill

By |

A new bill offered in the U.S. House and Senate would allow adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBT people, according to national LGBT groups. Rep. Michele Bachmann is the sole member of the Minnesota delegation in Congress sponsoring the bill.

Continue Reading

Minnesota Archdiocese wanted to label marriage equality-supporting priest ‘disabled’

By |

The investigation of alleged cover-ups of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has brought a flurry of court documents which reveal some details of Archbishop John Nienstedt’s war on gay marriage. In one case, the Archdiocese allegedly considered having a priest labelled disabled to silence his support of marriage equality.Father Michael Tegeder of St. Francis Cabrini and Gichitwaa Kateri has been an outspoken critic of Nienstedt’s assault on LGBT rights. He was sharply critical of the anti-gay marriage amendment that was on the ballot in 2012.He was so outspoken, Nienstedt threatened to remove him from ministry.“If you choose not to offer your resignation, but continue to act openly or speak publicly about your opposition to Church teaching, I will suspend your faculties to exercise ministry and remove you from your ministerial assignments,” Nienstedt wrote to Tegeder in a letter in November 2011.But behind the scenes, Nienstedt was considering other measures to silence Tegeder. Continue Reading

Former Viking Chris Kluwe to sue Vikings over homophobia allegations

By |

Former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe announced on Tuesday he will be suing the team after the team failed to disclose the results of an internal investigation prompted by Kluwe’s allegations of rampant homophobia in the team’s management.At a press conference at the IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday, Kluwe chastised the Vikings for failing to release the report on an investigation into homophobia.“It’s transparently obvious to me that the Vikings are covering up the truth,” said Kluwe’s attorney Clayton Halunen. “We have no choice but to litigate at this point. Kluwe willingly cooperated with the Vikings’ investigation – all he ever wanted was for the truth to come out.”On Jan. 2, former Viking punter Chris Kluwe made some startling claims in a post on Deadspin:We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: ‘We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows.’ The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting. Continue Reading

Conservative Christians protest Anoka-Hennepin’s planned LGBT inclusion

By |

Two years after the Anoka-Hennepin School District entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice after multiple suicides of LGBT students, and a lawsuit by six students alleging rampant bullying and discrimination, conservative Christian parents continue to fight the inclusion of LGBT students in the district.At the June 30 school board meeting, the board heard the recommendations of the Anti-Bullying/Anti-Harassment Task Force, a group established by the consent decree. The task force is composed of 29 parents, teachers, principals, district administrators, and additional community members who are charged with making developing ways to make Anoka Hennepin Schools safer for students.The task force presented 5 recommendations which included: Increase messages of kindness in the Anoka-Hennepin community, provide comprehensive communication about safety and inclusiveness for all people in our schools, increase adult presence in unstructured common places in middle schools through the use of volunteer school ambassadors, and increase awareness and acknowledgement of the variety of family structures & characteristics.But it was Recommendation 3 that has caused outrage amongst Anoka-Hennepin’s conservative Christians. That recommendation reads:Recommendation 3: Honor and celebrate the contributions of diverse people and families in our community, country, and world, including the LGBT community. In an effort to affirm and celebrate the diversity represented by district students, families, and employees, the Task Force recommends Anoka-Hennepin Schools recognize, affirm, and assess specific LGBT activities including, but not limited to, continuing to support student-led Gay Straight Alliance clubs; hosting school-related family nights for our diverse populations, including LGBT families and LGBT students and their parents; and creating public displays honoring LGBT history month each October beginning in 2014.During the June 30 meeting, the school board heard from task force member Bryan Linquist who used thinly veiled language to urge the board to reject Recommendation 3 [find video of the meeting at the Anoka-Hennepin School District Streaming Media Archive].Linquist notes that he opposed the recommendations even though he wasn’t there to vote on them. “I was not present for the voting or part of the 19 that voted to move all 5 recommendations forward.”“I ask you to aware of what is being recommended and whom the recommendations benefits. Continue Reading

Report: Anti-LGBT Archbishop Nienstedt being investigated for gay relationships

By |

Embattled Archbishop John Nienstedt is facing a church investigation into whether he had inappropriate same-sex relationships with fellow clergy while he was engaged in anti-LGBT advocacy, according to Commonweal, the oldest Catholic journal in the United States.Commonweal reported on Tuesday that Nienstedt is the target of an investigation by an outside law firm hired by the church to investigate child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which oversees the state’s Catholic churches, organizations, clergy, and staff. The investigation seeks to learn whether Nienstedt had romantic relationships with fellow male staff and clergy, and whether he retaliated against staff and clergy who dismissed his advances.Commonweal’s source about the investigation is Jennifer Haselberger, a former church employee and whistleblower who uncovered attempts to cover-up child sexual abuse.“Based on my interview with Greene Espel—as well as conversations with other interviewees—I believe that the investigators have received about ten sworn statements alleging sexual impropriety on the part of the archbishop dating from his time as a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, as Bishop of New Ulm, and while coadjutor and archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” Haselberger told Commonweal. “He also stands accused of retaliating against those who refused his advances or otherwise questioned his conduct.”Nienstedt denied the allegations, but did not deny that the investigation is occurring. Continue Reading

Minnesota evangelical group says it will cure HIV at Twin Cities Pride

By |

Trinity Works, an evangelical group planning an mass “ex-gay” conversion outreach at Twin Cities Pride, recently told a church congregation that it’s outreach workers will cure HIV during Pride.Trinity Works, in coalition with what it says are 30 Twin Cities churches, is planning “Humility 2014,” an infiltration of Twin Cities Pride by outreach workers hoping to convince members of the LGBT community to leave the “lifestyle” as well as their partners, family, and friends, and become heterosexual born-again Christians. The group even had a failed plan to rent out the Gay 90s as a church during Pride.The group says it has about 300 outreach workers scheduled for Pride, and those workers will be based at First Baptist Church on Hennepin Avenue along the Pride parade route.Its leader Steven Uggen told a group gathered in April at The Well, A Living Church in Robbinsdale, that people will be cured of “HIV or AIDS” at the Pride festivities. Uggen says that by healing those with HIV, it will prove to the LGBT community that they should find Jesus and leave “the lifestyle.”“One of the words we got out of this outreach, the Lord really wanted to demonstrate his goodness to this community by releasing healing of HIV and AIDS, so we believe we’re going to see people healed of HIV and AIDS and we’re just, we’re carrying that word of the Lord into this outreach. And that will be part of our training just praying with boldness for the releasing of healing power and then sending them back to their doctors literally after praying for them. ‘Here’s what I want you to do: go to your doctor, get tested for HIV or AIDS and when you come back negative, you’ve got a decision to make whether you’re gonna serve the God who just healed you’ and then give them some gospel materials that they can take with them and encourage them to call on us and let us know and I’m confident that we’re going to have people healed of HIV and AIDS that are going to be contacting us. Continue Reading