"On December 30, 1975, Minneapolis became the first city to adopt a trans-inclusive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinance. Fifty years later, the United States still lacks similar protections on a federal level. Minneapolis was special in that the right people were there at the right time, said Seth Goodspeed, director of development and communications at OutFront Minnesota, the state's largest LGBTQ+ rights organization."
"It was home to Jack Baker and Michael McConnell, two men who, in 1971, figured out how to legally marry, the first recorded same-sex marriage in history. It was also the stomping ground of Steve Endean, who founded the nation's largest LGBTQ+ rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign. Endean started lobbying a city alderman, Earl Netwal, in 1973 to pass a gay rights ordinance. His timing was just right. In 1974 progressives won the mayoral race and the city council. That year they voted 10-0 to ban discrimination on the basis of "sexual preference.""
Minneapolis enacted a trans-inclusive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinance on December 30, 1975, marking the first municipal policy of its kind in the United States. The ordinance grew from local activism, including student organizing at the University of Minnesota and early same-sex marriage efforts by Jack Baker and Michael McConnell. Steve Endean lobbied city leaders, and progressive electoral victories in 1974 enabled a unanimous 10-0 vote to ban discrimination on the basis of "sexual preference." Activist Tim Campbell drafted trans-inclusive language in 1975, and the ordinance passed just before a more conservative council took office. Federal protections remain absent fifty years later.
Read at Advocate.com
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