In the article, "One Town's War on Gay Teens," Rolling Stone political reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely described school district officials and school board members as largely unresponsive, and catering to the Parents Action League -- a conservative parent group -- which is a small but virulent anti-gay faction that opposes recognition of LGBTQ youth.

via: Minnesota Public Radio

Dennis Carlson

Some in the community said the piece fairly accurately reflects the situation; others said it unfairly made most of the school district seem anti-gay.

"From everything I know and have seen, it's an accurate article," said Tammy Aaberg, an Anoka-Hennepin parent who lost her son Justin, a gay teenager, to suicide in 2010.

But the superintendent, who said he received scores of hate emails over the article, said it has inaccuracies and ignores the district's efforts to better protect gay students. The district conducted staff awareness training after the suicides and offered additional training when teachers said they were confused about the sexual orientation policy, according to a statement on the district website.

The school board is considering replacing the policy and will vote on a new one Monday.

"We did have a cluster of suicides, and we got very concerned," Carlson said. "We started taking immediate steps, and we haven't stopped....We told (the writer) of the efforts, and she mentioned none."

More: Pioneer Press

Erdely defended her article, and told the Press that she spent four months talking to dozens of community members, including other parents, teachers and students.

"Between all of them they gave me a very full sense of what was going on in the district," Erdely said. "If (Carlson) thinks this was a distorted version of the truth, maybe he is too far removed."

In Minnesota, Santorum captured 45 percent of the vote, with Rep. Ron Paul in second at 27 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a distant third with 17 percent. In Missouri, Santorum won 55 percent of the vote to Romney’s 25 percent. In the Colorado caucuses, Santorum beat Romney by five points.

Rick Santorum

In his victory speech in Missouri, Santorum declared, “Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,” and took a dig at Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

“Your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the state of Missouri and Minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country, and particularly in a place that I suspect may be in Massachusetts they were heard particularly loud tonight,” Santorum said.

He added that he is not the conservative alternative to Romney, but the “conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”

Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said Santorum’s wins are evidence the “non-Romney wing” of the GOP is still the dominant force in the party and “yet more proof that Republicans can’t stand Mitt Romney.”

“Conservative Republicans may love Rick Santorum’s unwavering sanctimony and seething anti-intellectualism, but his narrow, regressive brand of politics will turn off independents and even many moderate Republicans,” Davis said.

R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, dismissed Santorum’s wins because he said the candidate can’t unify the Republican Party.

“As former RNC chairman Gov. Haley Barbour has observed, ‘purity is the enemy of victory,’” Cooper said “The ability to secure the vote of the general electorate is necessary to succeeding as the Republican nominee. The divisive Rick Santorum is not capable of winning a general election and will not be the Republican nominee.”

The wins for Santorum in Minnesota and Missouri are largely symbolic. Missouri isn’t awarding any delegates at the Republican National Convention. Minnesota and Colorado will award their delegates at a later date.

Still, Santorum’s victory is sure to be a thorn in the side of frontrunner Romney, who last week seemed poised to claim the Republican nomination after his victory in the Nevada caucuses. Observers say Tuesday’s results raise questions about whether Romney can close the deal and win the Republican nomination.

In this month’s issue of Rolling Stone magazine, political correspondent Sabrina Rubin Erdely examines the background of the cultural battle being fought as seen through the eyes of the affected teens and their parents as the LGBTQ community is pitted against anti-gay evangelical Christians whose policies -- now under threat of federal lawsuits by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU of Minnesota -- were implemented by the local school districts.

"LGBTQ students don't feel safe at school," says Anoka Middle School for the Arts teacher Jefferson Fietek, using the acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning. "They're made to feel ashamed of who they are. They're bullied. And there's no one to stand up for them, because teachers are afraid of being fired."

[...]

For years, the area has also bred a deep strain of religious conservatism. At churches like First Baptist Church of Anoka, parishioners believe that homosexuality is a form of mental illness caused by family dysfunction, childhood trauma and exposure to pornography – a perversion curable through intensive therapy.

It's a point of view shared by their congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who has called homosexuality a form of "sexual dysfunction" that amounts to "personal enslavement."

In 1993, Bachmann, a proponent of school prayer and creationism, co-founded the New Heights charter school in the town of Stillwater, only to flee the board amid an outcry that the school was promoting a religious curriculum. Bachmann also is affiliated with the ultraright Minnesota Family Council, headlining a fundraiser for them last spring alongside Newt Gingrich.

Read the entire Rolling Stone article here →

Such secrecy once again reveals NOM is not a grassroots organization but serves the interest of a handful of wealthy anti-gay donors, said the HRC, which has called upon the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board to investigate NOM’s financial activity around the Minnesota ballot measure.

Reports filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board reveal that marriage equality opponents received only seven individual donations and one donation from a family estate.

However, they have raised more than $1.2 million from just three entities: $750,000 contributed by the Minnesota Catholic Conference, $250,000 by the National Organization for Marriage and $226,000 by the Minnesota Family Council.

By contrast, Minnesotans United for All Families, the coalition working to defeat the ballot measure, openly reported contributions from over 5,000 individual donors, 75 percent of which were from Minnesota.

“NOM has deliberately evaded Minnesota’s public disclosure laws,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We’ve seen this movie before in plenty of other states. This is part of NOM’s systematic attempt across the country to oppose public disclosure and hide its donors."

"In Minnesota, they have taken it to a whole new level. We believe that NOM and others may be secretly telling people to contribute to them instead of directly to the campaign so that they can avoid public disclosure. The contrast between seven individuals opposing marriage equality and thousands of pro-equality supporters is quite revealing.”

For months, lawyers for NOM have battled the state over its public disclosure laws.

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board has repeatedly told NOM and its allies that they must provide underlying disclosure by revealing, among other things, individual donors who are solicited to contribute to the ballot measure.

Today’s disclosure reports come on the heels of a court decision that rejected NOM’s arguments that it should not have to reveal donors solicited for the Maine marriage referendum in 2009.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit upheld Maine’s campaign finance disclosure laws from attack by NOM.

In 2009, NOM solicited contributions for Amendment 1 but refused to register and report as a ballot question committee as required by Maine law. The Maine Attorney General is currently investigating NOM for violating state law.

MPR

Amy Koch

In a open letter to Koch -- published in the local alternative newspaper, City Pages -- Minneapolis resident John Medeiros has rendered an apology to Koch “on behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota ... for our community’s successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage."

Koch resigned her leadership post in the state Senate last week amid allegations of an “inappropriate relationship” with a state Senate staffer.

Koch, who is is married with one child, has been one of the leading proponents of Minnesota’s 2012 ballot initiative aimed at amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

"We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an ‘illicit affair’ with your staffer," Medeiros wrote.

The letter comes a day after Koch issued her own apology released yesterday, in which she expressed her "deep regret" for "engaging in a relationship with a Senate staffer."

Following is the complete text of Medeiros' letter to Koch:

Dear Ms. Koch,

On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community's successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage. We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an "illicit affair" with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.

We apologize that our selfish requests to marry those we love has cheapened and degraded traditional marriage so much that we caused you to stray from your own holy union for something more cheap and tawdry. And we are doubly remorseful in knowing that many will see this as a form of sexual harassment of a subordinate.

It is now clear to us that if we were not so self-focused and myopic, we would have been able to see that the time you wasted diligently writing legislation that would forever seal the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, could have been more usefully spent reshaping the legal definition of "adultery."

Forgive us. As you know, we are not church-going people, so we are unable to fully appreciate that "gay marriage" is incompatible with Christian values, despite the fact that those values carry a biblical tradition of adultery such as yours. We applaud you for keeping that tradition going.

And finally, shame on us for thinking that marriage is a private affair, and that our marriage would have little impact on anyone's family. We now see that marriage is more than that. It is an agreement with society. We should listen to the Minnesota Family Council when it tells us that marriage is about being public, which explains why marriages are public ceremonies. Never did we realize that it is exactly because of this societal agreement that the entire world is looking at you in shame and disappointment instead of minding its own business.

From the bottom of our hearts, we ask that you please accept our apology.

Thank you.
John Medeiros
Minneapolis MN

According to City Pages political columnist Kevin Hoffman, although Koch has not identified the other participant in the "inappropriate relationship," he writes "it is widely rumored to be former communications chief Michael Brodkorb, who lost several positions with the GOP in the wake of the scandal."

Koch has said she will not seek re-election in 2012, but has not indicated if she will resign from the Senate prior to her term ending.

The Duluth City Council passed the resolution Monday in a 6-2 vote, with one city council member absent, having left prior to the vote's roll call.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, several city councilors earlier were critical of the council taking up the matter, suggesting it was not the proper venue, but they remained silent at Monday’s meeting.

“Equality concerns me. It will always concern me,” said Councilor Jeff Anderson, who co-sponsored the resolution. “This directly affects and impacts people in the city of Duluth.”

“This is about maintaining inclusive communities that will help us grow and thrive,” he said, suggesting that Duluth’s future will be brighter if people view it as a welcoming city.

Following the meeting, Councilor Jim Stauber said he opposed the resolution because he didn’t think the city council was the proper venue "to convince people whether to support this amendment or not.”

“The good citizens of the state of Minnesota will all get a chance to vote on this. It’s a pretty simple issue, and people should be allowed to vote," he said, adding that on a personal level, he is supportive of the amendment.

Council President Sharla Gardner, who co-sponsored the resolution, contended that the city shouldn’t remain silent on important issues.

“I believe the role of city government is to be the front line of democracy,” she said.

John Nienstedt

“Much rides on the success of our struggle to defend marriage,” said Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, who made the plea in a letter posted on the archdiocese’s website.

To help assist in the strengthening of our state-wide efforts to defend marriage in our civil constitution, I am pleased to offer to your community of faith the enclosed prayer.

Heavenly Father,

Through the powerful intercession of the Holy Family, grant to this local Church the many graces we need to foster, strengthen, and support faith-filled, holy marriages and holy families.

May the vocation of married life, a true calling to share in your own divine and creative life, be recognized by all believers as a source of blessing and joy, and a revelation of your own divine goodness.

Grant to us all the gift of courage to proclaim and defend your plan for marriage, which is the union of one man and one woman in a lifelong, exclusive relationship of loving trust, compassion, and generosity, open to the conception of children.

We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Nienstedt has also asked Catholics of the Archdiocese to "embrace Fridays as a particular day of prayer and sacrifice for the success of this most current struggle to defend marriage with our civil constitution."

It’s the latest effort by Minnesota church leaders urging Catholics to support passage of the proposed amendment, which calls for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

In October, Nienstedt urged church pastors to form ad-hoc committees in their parishes to "marshal resources" and "vigorously organize and support a grass-roots effort to get out the vote to support the passage of this amendment.”

Last year, Nienstedt mailed 800,000 Catholic households a DVD defending marriage as between one man and one woman.

Amy Koch

Koch, who is is married with one child, has been one of the leading proponents of Minnesota's 2012 ballot initiative aimed at amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

At a hastily called news conference Friday afternoon after news of the alleged relationship was published online, Deputy Majority Leader Geoff Michel of Edina, who took over as interim leader after Koch stepped down, said the senators decided to confront Koch after hearing complaints in the past several weeks from "multiple sources" that the alleged relationship was interfering with the Senate work environment.

[...]

The situation raises "potential legal risk" for the Senate, he said.

Those bringing complaints did not describe the relationship as sexual, Michel said, and the senators did not characterize it that way when they broached the subject with Koch.

"In the end, there's probably only two people who really know what kind of relationship and how long that may have been happening, but it certainly had risen to a level within our Senate family that people were coming to us," he said.

Pioneer Press

Michel has been named Interim Senate Majority Leader until a replacement an be elected.

Koch has neither admitted nor denied the allegations -- she has said she will not seek re-election in 2012, but has not indicated if she will resign from the Senate prior to her term ending.

KARE-TV

Audience member at Anoka-Hennepin School Board meeting.

Advocates and allies of LGBTQ students objected saying that the policy does not specify what those "controversial topics" are.

Tammy Aaberg, whose son Justin was one of nearly a dozen Anoka-Hennepin students who committed suicide after anti-gay bullying since the 2009 school year, wasn't happy about calling the policy "controversial."

In a statement she read before the board, Aaberg told officials, "I read the policy and my heart started breaking all over again. Because now we're going from neutral on sexual orientation to labeling LBGT kids as controversial."

Others seemed confused about what can or cannot be discussed in the classroom, which is why they urged the board to clarify the proposed policy before voting on it next month.

Opponents of any changes to the current policy also voiced their concerns, one woman telling the board, "We were a model for the nation at protecting kids from homosexual propaganda. The sexual orientation curriculum policy is an excellent policy."

The board seemed cautiously optimistic that it was taking a proper course of action.

Board member Scott Wenzel told those in attendance, "Am I totally happy with it, absolutely not but I think we're moving forward to satisfy and clear up some misunderstandings in our school district and create a safer school for our students."

The board read through the policy Monday night, and will read through it one more time before they make a final decision in January.

John Nienstedt

In a letter sent to parishes on Oct. 4, Nienstedt wrote, "It is imperative that we marshal our resources to educate the faithful about the church's teachings on these matters, and to vigorously organize and support a grass-roots effort to get out the vote to support the passage of this amendment."

The Archbishop's letter also directs priests to "appoint a captain or co-chairs to lead a special parish ad hoc committee to spearhead this effort."

The Catholic Church's leadership have said that they are taking this "unique" and unusual step because they see the amendment as one of the most important issues the Catholics in Minnesota face in the next election cycle.

Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, said the state's other bishops are expected to send out similar letters, "if they haven't already done so."

"We believe it [marriage] is a vital social institution, and it's under attack in the courts, the Legislature and the culture," Adkins said. "And it would have profound consequences if marriage is in fact redefined. That's why we're putting extraordinary resources toward making sure this marriage amendment gets passed."

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

At least one pastor, Rev. Mike Tegeder of both St. Frances Cabrini and Gichitwaa Kateri churches in Minneapolis, called the effort "imprudent" and "divisive."

Religion and politics expert John Green said he's never heard of U.S. Catholic leaders encouraging clergy to form special committees at churches to mobilize Catholics to vote on particular issues.

The strategy mirrors a similar one used by conservative Christians in California to pass Proposition 8 and end marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Last year, Nienstedt mailed 800,000 Catholic households a DVD defending marriage as between one man and one woman.

"I don't think neighbors should be voting on what neighbors can and can't do in the privacy of their own home," said State Rep. John Kriesel, a Republican from Cottage Grove, Minn.

Minnesotans United for All Families announced a new partnership Thursday with Log Cabin Republicans and Republicans Against the Minnesota Marriage Amendment.

At a news conference, former gubernatorial candidate and long-time Republican advisor Wheelock Whitney said he will donate $10,000 to the cause and urges his friends to do the same.

"In a free society we must allow others to live according to the dictate of their own conscience," he said.

Minnesota Public Radio

"I have a gay son. I have a gay grandson. I love them. I'm proud of them, and I don't like to see them discriminated against in any way," Whitney also said, adding that he wants Minnesota "to be the first state in America to stop these [anti-gay] amendments."

The Minnesota state legislature voted in May to approve the ballot initiate, which will go before voters in November 2012.

The ballot question will read, “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?”

In June, the CFB voted that disclosure rules do apply to groups that make large donations to ballot campaigns, and requires groups that give at least $5,000 to a ballot measure to name those people who contributed $1,000 or more.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, the National Organization for Marriage distributed a press release that said the CFB was "acting illegally in attempting to force NOM and other pro-family nonprofit organizations to disclose the names of donors."

The National Organization for Marriage, which is a part of Minnesota for Marriage, has opposed regulations of its campaign activity in almost every state it has operated in. And in many of those states, the organization has lost its case, reported the Minnesota Independent.

“[I]t is apparent that NOM is a singular target of the Board’s proposed new reporting and disclosure regime,” NOM wrote. “The deliberate targeting by the government of a particular citizens organization such as NOM is a violation of NOM’s First Amendment rights protecting it from such government assault.”

[...]

Tom Prichard of the Minnesota Family Council, another member of Minnesota for Marriage, recently told the campaign finance board that he thinks Minnesota for Marriage should not have to disclose any of the contributions it takes in or the people or entities that donate.

The Minnesota legislature this year approved a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to the union of a man and a woman. Voters will consider the amendment in 2012.

“The Supreme Court has made it clear that the public has a right to know who is behind political spending during an election,” said Mike Dean, Executive Director of Common Cause Minnesota. “This attack on Minnesota’s disclosure law is [an] attack on Minnesota’s desire for fair and open elections.”

Tammy Aaberg -- whose son Justin committed suicide in July 2010 -- met with Bachmann staffers at the congresswoman's Waite Park, Minn., office and was accompanied by Edina High School senior Gabe Aderhold and his mother, Audrey Kingstrom; classmate Graham Luterbach; Blaine High School graduate Justin Anderson; and St. Cloud resident Denny Smith. (Aderhold is the teen who confronted Bachmann and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty during campaign stops at the Iowa State Fair.)

Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter Maria Elena Baca also was present for about half of the hour-long meeting, but was asked to leave after she identified herself as a journalist.

Aaberg and the others met with Deb Steiskal, Bachmann’s constituent services officer, reported the Star-Tribune. Aaberg said afterward that, although she felt the meeting was productive and she was confident Steiskal would deliver their message to Bachmann, she was skeptical that Bachmann would take a proactive position to help curb anti-gay bullying.

Aaberg also delivered petitions containing more than 130,000 signatures from around the country, calling on Bachmann to condemn harassment of LGBT students in her congressional district.

"I wanted to give her a chance to do the right thing," Aaberg said.

Anderson also spoke to Bachmann staffers about the anti-gay culture within the school district, reported Andrew Harmon of The Advocate.

“I talked about how, when I was a student, I got harassed and bullied, and that I believe that staff weren’t responding as well as they should have,” Anderson said of the meeting.

“I can’t count a single day since middle school where I didn’t hear ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘fag.’ And I remember a student saying gay people should just go kill themselves, and the teacher just told them to be quiet.”

Bachmann's congressional district includes the Anoka-Hennepin School District -- Aaberg's son Justin attended Anoka High School.

The school district has been widely criticized for not taking a firm stand on anti-gay bullying, and is currently target of two lawsuits stemming from its "neutrality policy" regarding issues of sexual orientation and identity.

Critics call the policy a “gag rule,” and the Star-Tribune, in a recent editorial, called it “gutless” and “out of touch.”

Over the past two years, a total of nine teenagers from within the school district have committed suicide — the latest in May — and many more students have attempted to take their lives. Some of the victims were gay, or perceived to be by their classmates, and many were reportedly bullied.

Anoka-Hennepin is also the subject of a federal civil rights investigation, sparked last fall by allegations of bullying over sexual orientation.

Bachmann's Washington D.C. congressional office spokesperson Becky Rogness, issued a statement Thursday evening that acknowledged Bachmann will review the petition and respond later.

Even after a controversy which saw the NOM backed group, Minnesotans for Marriage (as long as it excludes THE GAYS) get a booth in the fair while the organization fighting NOM's effort not able to retain a booth, NOM received some interestingly bad news.

According to the Minnesota Independent:

The Minnesota House of Representatives conducted its annual poll of legislative issues at the Minnesota State Fair this year, and among the questions was how fair-goers would vote on an amendment to the state constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman and barring same-sex marriage for future generations. Poll respondents rejected the amendment with 29.8 percent voting “yes” and 66.5 percent voting “no.”

According to the House, the poll “is an informal, unscientific survey of issues discussed in prior legislative sessions.”

Both sides of the debate over the amendment rallied their troops to the fair to vote in the poll. Minnesota for Marriage, which supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and Minnesotans United for All Families, which opposes the amendment, sent email alerts to activists during the fair urging them to take the poll.

The poll had by far the highest turnout ever: 12,549 people took the poll compared to 9,926 last year.

Of course NOM hasn't said a word about this on its blog. If the organization ever gets around to addressing this slap in its face, expect to hear platitudes about how "30 states voted to oppose gay marriage," or how "the only vote that really matters is at the ballot box."

But don't be fooled. No doubt the folks at Minnesotans for Marriage (as long it excludes The GAYS) will be plotting their next move in response to this poll.

According to NOM Exposed, they have already call in the churches. How long will it be before they start pulling the "if gays get married, children will have to learn about homosexual relationships (i.e. gay sex)" card, even though this claim has been continuously proven to be a lie.

Make no mistake about it. For the folks in Minnesota, this is going to be a long year.

Common Cause Minnesota had filed the complaints claiming that advertisements run in print, radio, and television by the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) regarding the anti-gay marriage amendment in 2010 constituted lobbying.

The board ruled that the ads were "too vague to trigger the registration requirement for lobbyists."

As part of the complaint, Common Cause Minnesota had asked for financial penalties and an audit of NOM’s spending in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Independent reported that both organizations had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the TV and radio ads.

MFC’s CEO John Helmberger told the board:

"Because of their shared goals of preserving traditional marriage in Minnesota, National Organization for Marriage asked MFC to help plan the production and placement of the [subject] ads. While MFC had input as to the production and placement of these ads, MFC did not pay for any part of their production or broadcast, nor is it obligated to reimburse the National Organization for Marriage for any part of the cost of producing or broadcasting the ads. Further, during 2010 MFC did not make any contribution to the National Organization for Marriage."

Based on that, the board dismissed the complaint from the group.

The Minnesota Independent

The board noted in its dismissal of the the complaint against the Minnesota Family Council, that despite the fact that the ads stated, “Paid for by the Minnesota Family Council and the National Organization for Marriage,” the Minnesota Family Council did not actually contribute any funds to the ad campaign.

The MFC is the same organization whose “legislative manual” asserts gays and lesbians are more likely to engage in bestiality, pedophilia, and eating human excrement.

The NOM spent $709,000 on radio and television ads during the gubernatorial campaign in 2010. The ads targeted candidates Mark Dayton (now Governor) and Tom Horner for their support for marriage equality, and lent support for the campaign of failed Republican candidate Tom Emmer, who supported a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.

The Board, however, previously ruled that corporate donations to groups advocating for or against a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage must be disclosed. That ruling applies to both the NOM and the MFC, who claim that their supporters would be subjected to harassment and violence if they are forced to disclose their donor information.

The Minnesota legislature this year approved a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to the union of a man and a woman. Voters will consider the amendment in 2012.