While yesterday's news of Representative Joe Radinovich's decision to vote yes on Clark bill to extend the freedom to marry to all couples rocked the headlines across the state, a glance at Greater Minnesota papers online reveals it's not the only story.
Faithful in Austin
In Austin, Minnesota, the Herald reports in ‘Shower of Stoles’ exhibit supports LGBT of faith:
Seven members of First Congregational worked meticulously, well into the afternoon Friday as they hung 100 intricate, ministerial stoles. Their work was for more than just an art project, though.
Shower of Stoles is a traveling exhibit of more than 1,000 religious garments donated by LGBT individuals who serve or have served in ministry but have been defrocked by the church for their sexual orientations. Martha Juillerat started the project when she stepped down from the Presbyterian Church in 1995 and came out, according to the project’s website, www.welcomingresources.org. She asked for other LGBT to send in their stoles to display and received 80 within the first day. The next spring, she had 200, so the first display was held in 1996 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Over the years, clearly, the exhibit has grown. Now it is split up into pieces, and First Congregational is hosting the exhibit for the first time from May 3 to May 15. Member Vickie Spyhalski is one of the seven who helped hang the stoles, which took several hours.
“The purpose is really to show the role that LGBT people play in the church and their role in the ministry,” Spyhalski said.
First Congregational has 100 of the stoles on display. Many of them are coupled with the stories of the people who wore them and the struggles they faced by coming out. Those stories, Spyhalski said, are powerful. . . .
Read more at the Herald.
Project 515--The Tour! in Red Wing and Faribault
In the Red Wing Republican Eagle, Barbara von Haaren, the chair of the Red Wing Human Rights Commission and Judy Will, a member of PFLAG write in Play explains how state discriminates 515 ways against same-sex couples:
The Red Wing Human Rights Commission along with Red Wing PFLAG — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays — invites the public to a free performance presented by The Project 515 players.
The performance will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday May 7 at Hobgoblin Stoney End, 920 Highway 19, Red Wing. Based in Minneapolis, “Project 515 - The Tour!” has traveled all around the state, as far north as Bemidji, as far south as Albert Lea and points in between.
Project 515 Education Campaign is a non-profit organization working to teach Minnesotans about the 515 current state laws that provide rights, benefits and responsibilities based on marriage that are unavailable to same-gender couples. The show is presented by a cast of six, each of whom plays several roles in the performance. . . .
A question and answer period will follow the play. The play was performed in Faribault on Wednesday night despite the May 1st blizzard, the Faribault Daily News reports in Show about same-sex marriage aims to empower Faribault audience:
A next-door neighbor assumes that her lesbian neighbor can now marry because the marriage amendment posed to voters last November failed.
A man loses everything when his partner, a police officer, is killed in the line of duty. His partner’s family — most of whom stopped talking to him years ago — made all the decisions while he was left with an empty house.
A young girl can’t sleep because she thinks she’ll be taken away from her parents — two women who have been together for years but can’t marry.
It was those moving snippets portraying the daily struggles a same-sex couple experiences in Minnesota that moved audience members like Joyce Atchison to tears. A self-proclaimed ally to the LGBT community, Atchison was one of about 20 people who braved the May Day blizzard for a performance of “515-The Tour!” at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Faribault. . . .
Read the rest in the Daily News.
Grand Forks: Lake Park mayor Aaron L. Wittnebel's column
Clear across the state in the Grand Forks Herald,Lake Park mayor Aaron Wittnebel's column, Support the freedom to marry in Minnesota, has been published in the op-ed section. In the commentary, first published in MinnPost, Minnesota's only currently out gay mayor writes:
As the only openly gay mayor in Minnesota -- and having been born and raised in the town I represent in Greater Minnesota -- marriage is something that is important for me as a friend, a leader and a Minnesotan.
Growing up in my small rural town in Greater Minnesota and attending our local Lutheran Church, I learned the value of commitment and family. Although I am not currently in a relationship, I was for some time.
Michael and I had a great many plans for the one day when we would have the freedom to get married in the state we call home. We planned on getting married, raising a family and living our lives together. . . .
Unfortunately, Michael passed away from meningitis in 2006, a few short months after his 30th birthday. Thanks to his upbringing in a small rural town as well -- with those same shared values of love, commitment and family -- his family and I were able to make the arrangements together that respected his wishes.
Sadly, this is not true for many same-sex couples throughout Minnesota who, without equality under the law, end up facing the nightmare of trying to honor their loved ones’ wishes on top of the tragedy of losing them. And unfortunately, this is just one example where our law stands in the way of love.
Not everyone is fortunate to have a family such as Michael’s, and that’s one of many reasons why marriage equality is so very important.
My friends, family and neighbors all have come a long way in their recognition that same-sex couples and LGBT Minnesotans like me have the same values, hopes and aspirations as all other Minnesotans. We are Herald readers’ brothers, sisters, neighbors, co-workers and friends, and we believe in families just like readers do.
Read the whole article in the GF Herald.
Happy to hitch 'em in Hackensack
Over in Hackensack, Pastor Michael Small looks forward to the day when he can legally marry couples like Aaron and Michael. He write in his letter to the Bemidji Pioneer, It’s time for Minnesota to take next step:
As a pastor for the past 25 years at Union Congregation Church United Church of Christ in Hackensack, I am proud to call myself a Minnesotan.
This past fall I was especially pleased to know that the people of Minnesota clearly affirmed the freedom for all persons in Minnesota to marry.
The voters of Minnesota have taken the first step in the freedom for everyone to marry. Now is the time to take the next step to secure the freedom for same-gendered couples to marry the one whom they love and cherish. It is time for us to set aside the last barrier for the freedom for everyone to marry by encouraging our legislators to act.
In Hackensack, same-gendered couples pay taxes, they vote, they run businesses. They work hard and contribute to the same system as everyone else. They should be treated fairly under the law, including the freedom to marry the person they love. When two people fall in love and decide to start a family and spend their lives together, marriage is the next step. There is nothing that compares or is as meaningful as marriage.
I look forward to the day when I can stand before a same-gendered couple and officiate at their wedding. Then I will be living out what I say every Sunday at Union, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”
Rural DFLers are key to passing freedom to marry
It's looking as if rural Democrats hold the key to whether or not Pastor Small will have that opportunity soon. Doug Beldon reports in the St. Paul Pioneer Press article, Gay marriage: At least 7 swing-district House DFLers could support:
Seven Minnesota House DFLers seen as swing votes on gay marriage say they are supporting or leaning toward supporting it, potentially key pickups for sponsors of the bill that may not get any Republican support in the chamber.
If House DFLers wind up having to pass the bill on their own, the members who declared their support in interviews Thursday, May 2, and Friday, May 3, with the Pioneer Press will get them closer -- but not all the way.
The seven are part of a group of 17 nonmetro Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party representatives seen as swing voters because their party favors legalizing gay marriage but they come from districts that supported the unsuccessful effort last fall to place a ban on gay marriage in the state constitution.
Another seven of the group wouldn't commit or comment. And one could not be reached. Two said they will oppose the bill. . . .
Here's the list of where the 17 stand:
Yes: Tom Anzelc of Balsam Township; Carly Melin of Hibbing; Jason Metsa of Virginia; Joe Radinovich of Crosby; Shannon Savick of Wells; Mike Sundin of Esko.
Leaning yes: Tim Faust of Hinckley.
No: Patti Fritz of Faribault; Mary Sawatzky of Willmar.
Undeclared: Roger Erickson of Baudette; Paul Marquart of Dilworth; Jay McNamar of Elbow Lake; John Persell of Bemidji; Jeanne Poppe of Austin.
No comment: Andrew Falk of Murdock; John Ward of Baxter.
Unavailable: David Dill of Crane Lake.
Bluestem is disappointed in the choices made by Fritz and Sawatzky--especially the latter representative's decision. A freshman, Sawatzky often seems too timid to serve, the Walter Mitty of her class. Would that some of young Joe Radinovich's courage--and that of his fellow, but elder, freshman Shannon Savick,who also won a close race--rubbed off on their Class of 2012 colleague.
Here's hoping that Jay McNamar takes his cue from Radinovich and Savick, rather than Milquetoast Mary. Students at the University of Morris and others, like Big Stone County resident Rebecca Terk, are willing to get his back on this. The PiPress reports:
"This is the hardest vote I've ever had," said Jay McNamar of Elbow Lake. "This vote, it tears at your heart." Almost 64 percent of voters in McNamar's district voted in favor of the marriage amendment.
And freshman Roger Erickson:
"There's a fairness issue that I believe in. There's a separation of church and state that I'm worrying about. But I also understand the deep-seated religious values of many people in my district. It's just a hard vote. It's a tough decision to make," said Roger Erickson of Baudette.
Take the courageous votes, Representatives McNamar and Erickson. In your heart, you know it's right.
Photo: Aleta Christopherson arranges stoles for the Shower of Stoles exhibit at First Congregational Church. The exhibit, which supports the LGBT who are of faith, starts today and goes through May 15. -- Eric Johnson, at the Austin Daily Herald (above). Big Stone County Resident Rebecca and her betrothed, John White, want Jay McNamar to vote "yes." Both will be McNamar's constituents in 2014 (below).
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