JustFair Lobby Day
May 5th, 2006,A week ago, on Thursday, April 27, I attended justFair lobby day, a lobbying effort on behalf of the GLBT community organized by OutFront Minnesota. As a straight ally of gays and lesbians, I hadn’t been very active in the cause recently beyond contacting legislators via phone or mail. I felt I should go to this event. And so, forgoing paid employment for most of the day, I drove up to the cities.
It was a beautiful day, and in the registration room I encountered a dear old friend and we talked about her advocacy for transgender folk. I eventually gathered with about seven other people from Northfield, including students from a St. Olaf College group, Gay, Lesbian or Whatever! (GLOW!, an acronym I like much better than GLBT) and a couple from the Unitarian Church in town.
We talked about what we wanted to say to our Republican state House representative, Ray Cox, and we went to meet him. He was in a press conference regarding new controls on mercury pollution, which he has been a leader in, but he had time for a picture (that’s me in front of Ray). (Ray is actually a pioneering politician-blogger, as I learned later that evening at a Northfield.org event that Ray also attended. He makes much better use of pictures than I do!)
From noon to one we attended a rally that drew about 5,000 people in front of the Capitol. There were several inspiring speeches, and I thought to myself, this is good–a minority that is still openly despised by many people is making itself heard, stepping out of the place it formerly occupied in the shadows.
Leaving the rally early, we paged Rep. Cox on the House floor, and he came out to engage us in a noisy Capitol hallway. I told him that we appreciated his votes against the proposed marriage amendment to the state constitution and that we felt it was discriminatory against GLBT people. He mentioned that he was persuaded by the economic argument against the amendment: such an amendment might create an atmosphere that would cause many bright, creative people to avoid our state, whether as a place to live and work or as a place to visit.
Our conversation was cut short when a tanned, sharp-suited lobbyist tapped on his shoulder and whispered into his ear.
I had to go home after that, but much of the rest of the delegation stayed to talk to Sen. Thomas Neuville, who strongly supports the marriage amendment.
Fortunately, it looks as though the marriage amendment might be dead for now. We’ll hear more about it, I’m sure.