Supporters of same-sex marriage ban have vastly outspent opponents

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Minnesota for Marriage, a coalition working to convince Minnesotans to vote for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, has hit the media saying that their group are “underdogs” in the marriage amendment battle and that they will be greatly outspent.But according to public records, members of the pro-amendment coalition, including the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Catholic Conference, have greatly outspent LGBT groups in the five years of lobbying for the amendment.Minnesota for Marriage claims fundraising disadvantageEach member of the coalition supporting the amendment has claimed underdog status in recent months.Chuck Darrell, communications director for Minnesota for Marriage, told the St. Cloud Times earlier this month that coalition members “expect to be outspent.”Darrell elaborated in an August interview with Pastor Brad Brandon on KKMS.“One of the problems we see is that the other side through Hollywood connections and everything else under the sun are going to raise a ton of money. I don’t think we can outraise them,” Darrell said. ”It’s absolutely important that people get involved because the only way to counter the money that is going to be spent on the other side.”John Helmberger, CEO of the Minnesota Family Council and chair of Minnesota for Marriage sent an email to supporters several weeks ago warning that “Hollywood” and “centers of popular culture” would be outspending the pro-amendment campaign.The Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC), another member of the Minnesota for Marriage coalition, also warned that they would be outspent.“Will the campaign be easy? No. We will be vastly outspent and there will be many cultural forces working against us,” the group wrote on its blog. ”They will try to make us think that we are swimming against the tide of history. Continue Reading

Anoka-Hennepin teachers test requires affirmation of district’s LGBT policy

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Some teachers at Anoka-Hennepin School District have failed a teachers test because they refused to affirm that the district’s policy limiting discussions of LGBT issues in the district’s schools is intended to make “students feel safe.”The district’s policy is at the heart of a culture war in the district and is the subject of a lawsuit by six students and their parents who say the district has not taken appropriate steps to prevent bullying against students who are, or are perceived to be, LGBT.City Pages reported on Wednesday that a training test required by all teachers contains the question: “One of the goals of the Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy is to ensure all of our students feel safe and respected in our classrooms and/or while participating in school activities: true or false?”City Pages notes that several teachers in the district are refusing to answer “true,” which causes them to fail the training test.The policy states that “Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions.”Yet, the policy only targets LGBT issues. Mentions of heterosexuality are not covered by the policy, and that’s part of the reason the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have filed suit against the district on behalf of six students and their families.The federal Department of Education and the Department of Justice have also launched investigations into the district after the suicide deaths of nine students in the past two years, several of whom were known to identify as LGBT.CityPages also produced a cover story this week highlighting the suicide death of Erik Turbenson, who was a student at Anoka-Hennepin ten years ago. He was openly gay and took his own life after being bullying. Continue Reading

Undisclosed money flows into Minnesota’s redistricting process

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The courts have taken on Minnesota’s redistricting process after the State Legislature’s failure to get a plan past Gov. Mark Dayton. But groups from right and left are raising money from undisclosed donors, hoping to influence redistricting by bringing court challenges and giving other support.Shared address with a GOP Minnesota think tank Minnesotans for a Fair Redistricting shares the same address and some staffers as the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, a conservative think tank, according to a ProPublica report. Fair Redistricting’s address is listed as that of Annette and Jack Meeks, a husband and wife duo active in Republican politics who work for Freedom Foundation. Annette Meeks was on Tom Emmer’s Republican ticket for lieutenant governor in 2010.Freedom Foundation has worked with the Cato Institute on research and events, which was founded by Charles Koch. It is also part of the State Policy Network, a network of 59 state-based conservative think tanks. Continue Reading

Bachmann’s campaign hires reflect far right-wing Christianity

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Members of Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign staff have taken a number of fringe positions, including campaigning against LGBT rights, supporting the elimination of public schools and characterizing Mormons as non-Christians.Democracy in Action tracks the campaign organization for presidential candidates and reveals a formidable number of campaign surrogates and field directors in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire.Sheri Few is Bachmann’s campaign director in South Carolina, and she’s no stranger to running for office; she’s tried three times for the South Carolina General Assembly. In 2008, her campaign literature said, “God has been preparing her to become a public servant for as long as she can remember.” That echoes Bachmann’s own assertions that God told her to run for Congress.The Columbia Free Times reported in late August that Sheri Few runs an anti-gay, abstinence-only until marriage organization that took in $2.2 million in federal funds between 2005 and 2007.That organization, South Carolina Parents Involved in Education (SCPIE), has been a very controversial one. It opposes Gay-Straight Alliances, safe-schools efforts and diversity training in schools. “The influence of homosexual activists within the nation’s educational system continues to grow, altering the attitudes of children and teens toward the acceptance of a unhealthy lifestyle,” the group wrote in 2008.Few wrote in 2008, “I, for one, am glad that our state legislature has already safeguarded our children from the discussion of a lifestyle that is neither healthy nor normal. It is bad enough that we have to shelter our children from the borage [sic] of television shows that treats homosexuality as though it were just another choice among the smorgasbord of immoral behaviors networks portray as commonplace with no undesirable consequences.”The group also says that evolutionary theory is a farce, has attempted to get intelligent design taught in schools and opposes vaccines for Human Papillomavirus.But perhaps Few’s group’s biggest issue is abstinence-only until marriage. Continue Reading

Bachmann’s campaign undergoes major shakeup

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Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign saw a major shakeup on Monday as her campaign manager and deputy campaign manager quit. Ed Rollins, who said he was leaving the campaign for health reasons, and David Polyansky both wished the campaign well in several media appearances Monday evening. The shakeup comes at an unfortunate time for Bachmann, whose campaign has been pushed to the middle of the Republican pack by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent announcement of a run for the nation’s highest office.“I wish I was 40 years old, but I’m not,” Rollins told Politico which broke the story Monday evening. “I’m 68 years old, I had a stroke a year and a half ago. I’m worn out. Continue Reading

State Fair becomes first battleground on anti-gay marriage amendment

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A poll by the Minnesota House of Representatives at the Minnesota State Fair has become a rally point for both supporters and opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state nearly 17 months before the vote in Nov. 2012.The Minnesota House of Representatives State Fair poll is an annual event where fair-goers can stop by the booth and weigh in on issues facing the state. This year, the unscientific poll will feature a question about the amendment.“The Minnesota House of Representatives has a booth at this year’s state fair, which is featuring their annual State Fair Poll where people can vote yes on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment,” Minnesota for Marriage said in a press release. “By visiting the booth inside the fairgrounds, fair-goers will also receive the chance to weigh in on other high profile issues that will be on the November 2012 statewide ballot in Minnesota. Hurry! Continue Reading

Groups gear up to oppose anti-gay marriage amendment

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While Minnesota for Marriage gears up outreach to conservative churches and pastors and recruitment of “church captains” in effort to pass a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, Minnesotans United for All Families is doing the same with progressive people of faith. The coalition is hosting a series of trainings on how to defeat the amendment in 2012.On Sept. 19, supporters of marriage equality will gather at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church for a “campaign kickoff training” for people of faith. According to the invite, the event “officially begins the faith-led effort to win the freedom to marry for all loving couples in Minnesota, first by defeating the 2012 anti-marriage constitutional amendment.”The coalition is also launching statewide trainings geared toward defeating the amendment and creating “the largest grassroots campaign this state has ever seen.”The trainings will be in more than a dozen cities beginning Sept. 13, including Minneapolis, Moorhead, Duluth, St. Continue Reading

Bachmann’s clinic protested by dancing, glitter-throwing ‘barbarians’

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A flash mob at Bachmann & Associates, a Christian counseling clinic run by Michele Bachmann and her husband Marcus, protested the clinic’s acceptance of state and federal money Thursday and poked fun at allegations that the clinic performs therapy to “cure” homosexuality. The mob, dressed as barbarians — a nod to one of Marcus’ comments about LGBT people — danced a choreographed routine to Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”The barbarian outfits were in response to a radio interview Marcus Bachmann gave in 2010 that insinuated that LGBT people were “barbarians” who “need to be educated.” The dance troop also featured a fake Marcus Bachmann who was “baptized” in glitter during the stunt.Here’s video of the protest: Continue Reading

Anoka-Hennepin schools’ long history in the culture war

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“I think the reason the Christian community is really getting involved is we want equal time,” a parent told the Star Tribune in 1992 over the then-brewing debate about whether the Anoka-Hennepin School District should teach that the earth was created in six days. That battle two decades ago mirrors one being fought today over LGBT issues. As Minnesota’s largest district becomes more diverse, conservative Christians have fought to keep their values a dominant force there through tactics including the banning of books and films, changes to school curriculum, and the forced resignation of an LGBT teacher.The early 1990s: Creationism and R-rated filmsThe 1992 flap over whether the district should teach creationism alongside evolution came when a handful of parents on the district’s curriculum committee targeted the school’s science standards. Mark Temke, a school board member at the time, sided with the minority on that committee.“Scientifically, if somebody told me I was a descendant of an ape, I would say, ‘Then why are there still apes?’” he said at a 1992 board meeting. “I disagree with that wholeheartedly. Continue Reading