Human Rights

Film Screening and Book Reception with Iraqi Authors and Filmmakers

When will gay marriage be legal in Minnesota?

After 42 years, the same-sex marriage debate in Minnesota might finally come to a close

Russia to ban American adoptions; Minnesota has most of any state

Minnesota parents could be hit hard by a new law in Russia banning American adoptions.SEE ALSO:-- Al Franken doesn't want mobile app companies to sell your location data without permission -- Chuck Grassley, Iowa Senator, compares smoking pot to murder, rape, and child abuse The Land of 10,000 Lakes ... More >>

St. Paul ranks below Mpls in GLBT Municipal Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign's newly released GLBT Municipal Equality Index gives high marks to Minneapolis and middling marks to St. Paul.SEE ALSO: Minneapolis 3rd most literate city; St. Paul slipping back into stone ageHuman Rights Campaign's study ranks 137 cities according to categories including ... More >>

Anti-Israel protest at Timberwolves-Haifa game leads to assault allegation [VIDEO]

Last night, the Timberwolves hosted Maccabi Haifa B.C., a professional basketball team from Haifa, Israel, for an exhibition game at the Target Center.SEE ALSO: Andrew Zimmern and Sameh Wadi in political Twitter spatMinutes into the game, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel (or perhaps more accurately, ... More >>

Hamline Wesley Award winners request honors be annulled over school's gay marriage stance

Colin Schumacher and Shona Ramchandani, two recipients of Hamline's prestigious John Wesley Award, have requested the annulment of their honors after school administration decided to remain neutral on the Minnesota marriage amendment.SEE ALSO: Hamline professor Stephen Kellert calls on university ad ... More >>

Target's gay wedding registry ad doesn't signal changed stance on marriage amendment

SEE ALSO:- Target tries to atone for anti-gay missteps with new pro-marriage equality promotion- Target won't stock gay R&B star Frank Ocean's Channel Orange, cites "guest demand"- Target's gay problem keeps getting worseTarget may be running an ad for its online wedding registry featuring two g ... More >>

(re)locate: A Place to Call Home

Shawn Sullivan won't be extradited to MN; U.K. judges rule sex offender program violates rights

In 1994, Eagan police questioned Shawn Sullivan, then 24 years old, about allegations that he had exposed himself in front of and groped two 11-year-old girls. But before prosecutors could file charges, Sullivan fled to Europe, never to return.Sullivan, who also allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl in ... More >>

The revolution won't be deported

If legal remedies are exhausted, it's time to take to the streets

Gay bullying must end

In wake of suicides, schools face federal scrutiny

The Terrorists Next Door

National security laws have transformed America's most vulnerable immigrants into terrorists

Iowa not cool with Bradlee Dean's public school invasion

​Bradlee Dean has really screwed up the town of Dunkerton, Iowa. Dean and his Christian-rap-metal troupe, Junkyard Prophet, hosted a supposed "anti-bullying" assembly at the Dunkertown high school last week that literally left some of the kids in tears. Among the more controversial messages deliv ... More >>

Tania Z. Chance filed complaint against Burnsville superintendent before taking buyout

​It certainly seems there's something fishy going on in the Burnsville school district with regard to the Tania Z. Chance controversy -- something district administrators are trying to sweep under the rug.Chance, 39, was the district's human resources director until she accepted a curiosity-piquin ... More >>

The most gay-friendly Twin Cities employers

The Human Rights Campaign assessed companies' GLBT-friendliness​The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has released a study measuring hundreds of companies' friendliness to gay employees. If their survey is any indication, Minnesota companies tend to do well by their GLBT employees. Thirteen Mi ... More >>

Lynn Torgerson running another anti-Muslim campaign against Ellison

Torgerson's back for more.​Lynn Torgerson dumped all over Rep. Keith Ellison during the 2010 congressional campaign, trashing his Muslim faith as little more than a breeding ground for criminals, and not deserving of free speech protection under the Constitution. Voters in the 5th congression ... More >>

Target sues Target and gets countersued by Target

Mr. T in DCThere can be only one Target. In Canada.​Target is suing Target over who Target is, and Target is suing Target right back. In a legal act of recursive solipsism unparalleled since Kramer vs. Kramer, our hometown corporate behemoth is suing a Canadian company of the same name over w ... More >>

Target's anti-gay-rights lawsuit rejected by judge

j.reedSeriously, who's running public relations for these guys?​It's not that Target's executive leadership has a problem with the gays -- they just wish they wouldn't stand so close to them. Unfortunately for the retail giant, its lawsuit to get gay-rights activists to stop standing on the s ... More >>

Target sues gay rights group

Mr. T in DCTarget's gay-rights public-relations meltdown just keeps on going.​The Target Corporation just can't seem to make nice to gay folks. After months of terrible publicity over its funding of anti-gay-marriage political candidates, its subsequent sorry-if-you-took-that-the-wrong-way ap ... More >>

Target changes political donation policy

Mr T. In DCThe all-seeing eye of Target has registered your concerns and is forming a committee.​In the aftermath of the public relations train-wreck that was Target's donation to MNForward, the corporation has revised its policy on how it sets about influencing our elections. Target CEO Greg ... More >>

Islamic law center opens on University of Minnesota campus today

Keith Ellison will speak at the Islamic law center's opening.​It's been almost 10 years since the 9/11 attacks. We're still stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan. Egypt is in the midst of a bloody revolution whose outcome is uncertain at best. And everyone seems to have an opinion about Muslims--informed ... More >>

Target isn't sponsoring this week's LGBT equality conference. Why not?

mmtzjr69outBankroll the haters and the hated will think twice about taking your money.​The National Conference on LGBT Equality is in town this week at the Minneapolis Hilton, running a series of lectures and workshops for equality activists. All the big local corporations have hopped on boar ... More >>

SPLC sues Anoka-Hennepin for denying lesbians' rights in Snow Days [UPDATE]

​The Anoka-Hennepin School District can't seem to come to terms with the idea that Champlin Park High School students have voted for two lesbians to be among the "royalty" at its annual Snow Days Pep Fest and Coronation. And instead of just allowing openly gay girls Desiree Shelton and Sarah ... More >>

ACLU of Minnesota accidentally dissolved itself

ACLU-MN.orgFor a minute there, they lost themselves.​The ACLU of Minnesota doesn't actually exist. That was one of the more awkward revelations in last week's flurry of filings in the ACLU's ongoing lawsuit against the Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy. The civil liberties group sued the school and the ... More >>

Teacher Walter Filson sues state after being publicly linked to gay taunts

Anoka-Hennepin teacher Walter Filson isn't laughing. ​Anoka-Hennepin teacher Walter Filson thought it would be funny to taunt a boy in his class about liking to dress in women's clothes, and having a thing for older men. He didn't think it was so funny when his own name was made public, after ... More >>

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

Steve Horner sues to stop ladies' night

Horner's been on a quest to criminalize ladies' night for 20 years

DNA Nation

Anoka County demanding DNA samples from suspected welfare cheats

Human Rights Campaign counters Target's Emmer donation

mmtzjr69outNew campaign cash aims to counteract Target's Emmer donation.​Target set off a good-sized ruckus this summer when it dropped $150,000 on a political fund backing GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Gay rights advocates were incensed, arguing that by backing such a nakedly homophobic ... More >>

Asylum Denied

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum

Peter Rickmyer, Level 3 sex offender, hollers discrimination

The perpetual Jordan neighborhood gadfly has filed a complaint with the Minneapolis Department of Human Rights claiming he's being discriminated against for his sexual orientation.

Teacher Diane Cleveland's rights violated by Human Rights department

Photo: dave mcmtDiane Cleveland had a right to privacy, a judge says.​Anoka-Hennepin teacher Diane Cleveland's privacy rights were violated when her name was made public by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights during its investigation of comments she made about a straight student's perceiv ... More >>

"Ladies Night" discriminates unfairly, state rules

So much for that​Men and women can now get plowed on the cheap equally, or not at all: The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is reinforcing an old rule that "Ladies Night" drink specials amount to illegal gender discrimination. Talk about a buzz kill. The sobering news comes after MDHR c ... More >>

Betty McCollum seeks resolution for Peter Erlinder's release

McCollum reminds the Rwandan government of U.S. generosity in foreign aid​Will this help? Rep. Betty McCollum has introduced, and Keith Ellison has cosponsored, a U.S. House resolution calling on the Rwandan government to release accused genocide denier William Mitchell law professor Peter Erl ... More >>

Terror becomes Arizona policy

Help us help the ACLU challenge Arizona immigration law

RAN . ART

The Crucifixion of Juarez

On the front line of the U.S. war on drugs, a Mexican city bleeds to death

Al Franken allies with Tom Coburn to oppose Uganda's death-to-homosexuals bill

Uganda's Parliament could outlaw homosexuality and make it a crime punishable by death.

Forced repatriation of ethnic Hmong raises state senator's ire

Mee Moua joins the international outcry over the fate of 4,000 Hmong forced to return to Laos.

Lynne Torgerson denies attacking Keith Ellison's Muslim faith

In an interview, the Minneapolis lawyer defends her comments about Islam and Keith Ellison.

A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman

Literary Legends: Khaled Hosseini

Jane Rhodes

Bag a Bunch of Bagels

Twin Cities bagels, revealed, celebrated, or mocked mercilessly, depending on which paragraph you read

Little Monrovia

They can quote the Constitution and sing "The Star-Spangled Banner." Their ancestors hail from Virginia. Meet the Twin Cities' newest African immigrants.

Patricia Henley: Hummingbird House

Foreign Affairs

Bill Clinton's Indonesian connection brought him campaign cash in exchange for influence--and continued inaction on the country's notorious human rights abuses.