Minnesota

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LGBT rights in Minnesota
Minnesota (USA)
Same-sex sexual activity legal?	Legal since 2001
Gender identity/expression	Yes, since 1993
Recognition of relationships	Same-sex marriages begin on August 1, 2013
Adoption	Yes

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Minnesota have much the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals.

Summary table

Same-sex sexual activity made legal
Right to change legal gender
Equal age of consent
Anti-discrimination laws in all areas
Anti-discrimination laws on transgender identity or expression
Same-sex marriage	as of 1 Aug 2013
Both joint- and step-adoption by same-sex couples
Access to IVF for lesbians

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

In 1849 the Minnesota Territory was given Wisconsin's laws, including its ban on heterosexual and homosexual sodomy, which was defined by the common law. When Minnesota was able to draft its own criminal code, it kept this prohibition and, in 1921 expanded the definition of sodomy to include fellatio as well as anal intercourse. Beyond the criminal laws, vagrancy laws banned anyone from soliciting for "immoral purposes".

In 1939 a wave of child molestation cases in St. Paul, Minnesota led to the enactment of a psychopathic offender law, which included LGBT people alongside rapists and child molesters. While justified as being necessary to protect children and others from sexual abuse, the bulk of those imprisoned under this law was for the then crime of homosexuality.

In State v. Blom (1984), the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the criminal ban on sodomy also applied to the act of cunnilingus. A few years later in, State v. Gray the Court rejected the argument that privacy rights applied to sodomy involving prostitution. However, the court did recognize that the State Constitution protected privacy rights, although it stopped short of stating whether or not private, adult, consensual and non-commercial sodomy was covered under the State Constitutional right to privacy.^{[citation needed]}

In Doe et al. v. Ventura et al. (2001), Minneapolis Judge Delilah Pierce ruled that the sodomy law violated the State Constitution when dealing with private, adult, consensual and non-commercial sodomy. The ruling was subsequently certified as being a class action lawsuit and the State did not appeal, thus voiding the law in terms of private, consensual, non-commercial acts of sodomy by consenting adults, two years before Lawrence v. Texas.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Main article: Same-sex marriage in Minnesota

Same-sex marriage will become legal in Minnesota on August 1, 2013. There are also domestic partnership ordinances in 18 cities:

• Minneapolis since 1991
• Duluth since 2009
• St. Paul since 2009
• Edina since 2010
• Maplewood since 2010
• Golden Valley since 2010
• Rochester since 2010
• St. Louis Park since 2011
• Richfield since 2011
• Red Wing since 2011
• Robbinsdale since 2011
• Hokpins since 2011
• Falcon Heights since 2011
• Shorewood since 2011
• Shoreview since 2011
• Crystal since 2011
• Eagan since 2012
• Eden Prairie since 2012

Baker v. Nelson

Main article: Baker v. Nelson

In 1972, Jack Baker filed a law suit against Gerald R. Nelson after being denied a marriage license. The case resulted in the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that Minnesota law limited marriage to opposite-sex couples and doing so did not violate the State Constitution or United States Constitution.

Minnesota Amendment 1

Main article: Minnesota Amendment 1 (2012)

On November 6, 2012, Minnesota voters by a margin of 53% to 47% defeated a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

Same-sex marriage

On February 28, 2013, a bill was introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. On May 9, it passed the House of Representatives by 75-59 votes. On May 13, 2013, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 37-30. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill into law on May 14; same-sex marriage will be legal and recognized in the state on August 1, 2013.

Discrimination

Since 1993, Minnesota laws outlaw discrimination on the basis of a person's sexual orientation and/or gender identity in housing, insurance, goods and services, contracts, health benefits, hospital visitation rights, and employment. The law also includes sexual orientation in the State laws on bias motivated crimes.

"Sexual orientation" means having or being perceived as having an emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to another person without regard to the sex of that person or having or being perceived as having an orientation for such attachment, or having or being perceived as having a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with one's biological maleness or femaleness. "Sexual orientation" does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult. The law does allow religious organizations, youth groups and certain small businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation if they want to.

Adoption

Minnesota law allows single LGBT people to petition to adopt children, whilst there is no specific prohibition against joint same-sex couple adoption petitions or step-parent petitions for same-sex couples. The state's only organization solely dedicated to finding families for Minnesota's children, Minnesota Adoption Resource Network, allows same-sex partners to adopt in identical fashion to singles and opposite-sex partners.

Hate crime

Since 1993, Minnesota laws protect people from hate crimes on the basis of a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Major party positions

The Democratic Farmer Labor Party 2010 Platform opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The party came out against the Minnesota ballot measure that would ban legal recognition of same sex marriage. [11]

The Republican Party of Minnesota 2010 Platform opposes K-12 school teachers talking about homosexuality, bisexuality or transgenderism with their students. It also expressly opposes legal recognition of same-sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships [12].

The Independence Party of Minnesota 2012 Platform opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The party came out against the Minnesota ballot measure that would make recognition of same-sex marriage unconstitutional in the state. [13].

Minor party positions

The Constitution Party of Minnesota Platform calls for the criminalization of homosexuality and opposes legal recognition of same sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships [14]

The Green Party of Minnesota Platform opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and supports legal recognition of same sex marriages. [15]

The Libertarian Party of Minnesota Platform opposes private sector anti-discrimination laws, but believes that the government itself should not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

See also

Thank You
LGBT Wikipedians
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Some content in this article from Wikipedia's WikiProject LGBT studies
The Wikipedia article is Minnesota
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• LGBT rights in the United States
• Minnesota Family Council
• Parents Action League
• Politics of Minnesota

References

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Organizations

LGBT organizations

• Minnesotans United for All Families
• OutFront Minnesota
• Project 515

LGBT community centers

• Rainbow Health Initiative

LGBT youth organizations

• Bridge for Runaway Youth
• District 202
• Evergreen House
• Face-to-Face Health and Counseling Service, Inc.
• Family and Chidren's Service
• YouthLink

Higher education LGBT resource offices

• Augsburg College LGBTQIA Services
• Carleton College Gender and Sexuality Center
• Hamline University Gender & Sexual Orientation Initiatives
• Macalester College Department of Multicultural Life
• Metropolitan State University - St. Paul Campus Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trangender Resource Center
• Minnesota State University - Mankato Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Center
• St. Cloud State University LGBT Resource Center
• University of Minnesota - Duluth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Services
• University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Programs Office

Anti-LGBT Industry

• Minnesota for Marriage
• Parents Action League
• You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide