WMMN-AF Blog
Real stories. Bold action. Powering all women & their communities to dismantle oppression.
January: 2020 MN Legislative preview
Thursday, January 16, 2020, 6:00 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Location: Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101
Hosted by: Third Thursdays - MNLeg Coalition and Indivisible Minnesota Legislative Action
The 2020 Mn Legislative session is about to kick off. Join us to learn what's coming up this session, what has the possibility of passing and what hasn't, and how you can help push progressive policies over the line in Minnesota!
We'll discuss ERA, Gun Sense bills, Renewable Energy, Voting Rights, Election Security and much more. We are excited to announce that our speakers will be House Reps Shelley Christensen (39B) and Amy Wazlawik (38B) and Sen Jeff Hayden (62).
December: Do Good Together!
Thursday, December 19, 2019, 6:00 - 10:00 pm
Location: Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101
It’s time for our annual Holiday Third Thursdays event, when we gather to Do Good Together. Join us for a night of community, action, and politics, celebrate the end of 2019 and kick off 2020 with power and purpose. Register today! Organized by WMM, ERA MN and MSP NOW
We did it! We survived another year! That means it's time to come together as a community and end this year on a high note, so join us for a Third Thursdays fun night of community and action.
Grab a drink and toast your friends in this fight, and then make some new ones.
Celebrate your wins from 2019, talk about your plans for 2020, and learn what topics we’re going to be tackling next year at our monthly Third Thursdays.
Pitch in on one of our many community service activities available on the night – making scarves for new refugees, assembling care kits for those who need them, writing thank-you cards to legislators at our gratitude table.
November: Boomers, Millennials and Youth: Mobilizing across generations
Thursday, November 21, 2019, 6:00 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Location: Black Dog Cafe, 308 Prince St, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101
Who hasn't heard dismissive comments in activist spaces like, “Youth don’t vote.” “If this was the 1960s….” “The older generation has left us this mess!” Or, simply, “Okay, Boomer, whatever.”
Tensions and misunderstandings between generations are as real as political polarization. And they are holding back political progress on vital issues like climate change, housing, or healthcare.
Join us at the fabulous Black Dog Cafe, grab some food and a drink and explore the following: Are you comfortable working across generations? What expectations or traumas do we carry into those relationships, based on our own family histories? What are some gifts and challenges that different generations bring to this political moment? How can we improve our inter-generational organizing?
Women’s March Minnesota Ends Official Connection with Women’s March National
WOMEN’S MARCH MINNESOTA ENDS OFFICIAL CONNECTION WITH WOMEN’S MARCH NATIONAL
On Sunday, July 14, Women’s March Minnesota’s Board of Directors voted unanimously against signing an affiliation agreement presented by Women’s March, Inc.
Women’s March Minnesota is an independent IRS-designated 501(c)(3) organization (granted by the IRS in February of 2018). Women’s March Inc released its proposed affiliation document, opening the “official” affiliation process in March of this year.
Women’s March Minnesota provided feedback regarding the initial agreement draft, as well as a multitude of on-going concerns that have been voiced by the Board, volunteers, and supporters of WMM.
Minnesota Pride celebrates and continues the momentum of the Stonewall Riots
Fifty years ago the LGBTQIA movement pushed forward with the Stonewall Riots. On June 28, 1969, the riots began when patrons of a gay bar revolted against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York. The police persecuted patrons for non-gender conforming attire and homosexual behavior. It is considered the start of liberation. This year, we celebrate the heroes of Stonewall and recognize that the liberation is not complete and we need to keep fighting to ensure progress, especially in today’s political climate.
Roe vs. Rage: A Reproductive Rights Panel at Third Thursdays
Do you know how many abortion clinics there are in Minnesota? Four – three in the Twin Cities and one in Duluth. Minnesotans, on average, think there are 41. That’s part of what’s driving the rage in Minnesota; there are so many misunderstandings, so many fallacies and, dare we say it, fake news about abortions.
Social Justice, Art and Pride
As a person of color, it was difficult to watch. I kept seeing my loved ones in the faces of those young boys. It is a heartbreaking, yet moving, series that serves as a stark reminder of the physical and psychological violence that is inflicted on Black and Brown people at the hands of our criminal justice system.
June: Roe vs. Rage: A Reproductive Rights Panel
Thursday, June 20, 2019, 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Location: The Coven, 30 N 1st Ave, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401.
All across the country, states are passing laws to restrict and ban abortion, and Minnesota is not immune.
As our friends at UnRestrict.org remind us, in the last 14 years, Minnesota lawmakers have proposed nearly 400 new laws restricting abortion access, intimidating providers, misleading patients, and increasing costs. This year's legislative session was no exception, as anti-choice legislators proposed and signed onto laws that would ban abortions as early as six weeks.
Join us for a conversation about reproductive rights in Minnesota.
Update on WMM 2019 Legislative Priorities
WMM entered into the 2019 legislative session with nine priorities. Sadly, with the split legislature, only one of those bills - Taskforce on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women - was passed. 2020 is coming! We need to vote out the lawmakers who obstruct legislation that is good for Minnesotans.
Here is how our priorities fared:
ERA NOW
Great news on the Equal Rights Amendment. HF71 will go to the MN House floor for a vote this Friday . HF71 would memorialize Congress to remove the deadline of 1982 to get 38 states to agree to ratify the ERA. Thirty-five states did sign on by that original date. The removal of the deadline will allow the ratifications of the final three states needed to secure the ERA into the U.S. Constitution.
Minnesota Legislative Session is Nearing an End
In less than two weeks the 2019 legislative session will end. The Conference Committees are underway, but the Senate, House and Governor cannot agree on high level budget targets. It’s getting stressful.
Big roadblocks
Sunset of the provider tax | This will put a $700M hole in the Health and Human Services budget. Governor Walz wants to keep this tax, the GOP want to let it expire without a plan to replace it.
Education | The GOP budget doesn't keep up with inflation and barely funds schools. Despite bipartisan support of education across the state, their budget gives schools no new dollars.
Mama's Day Bail out
Some mothers will be celebrating Mother's Day without their families this year. The cash bail system unjustly separated them. These women are in custody because they can't afford to pay the bond that would release them to carry on with their life, family, and work while their case advances.
Minnesota Freedom Fund is working to change that with the Momma's Day Bail Out.
Indigenous Women and Girls Deserve Justice
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Taskforce bill (HF70), will be voted on as a standalone bill in the House today (May 9).
Attend this hearing and floor vote to show your support. For real-time updates, visit the FB event page. Afterwards, go to the Senate and urge them to do the same: send the bill (SF515) to the Senate floor and vote yes.
Update on Conversion Therapy Ban
There are some Senators who support the ban but are unwilling to break with their party, so continue to call or write them and remind them that this proposed ban is overwhelmingly supported by the voters, the medical field, and that the founder of conversion therapy, Dr. Robert Spitzer, apologized to the LGBTQ community for all the harm he caused.
Banning what many consider to be the torture of kids shouldn’t be controversial in 2019, but this battle is yet to be won here in Minnesota.
Restore the Vote to Minnesotans!
Contact the State Government Appropriations conference committee members - House: Representatives Nelson, M.; Freiberg; Ecklund; Dehn; Kiel. Senate: Senators Kiffmeyer; Anderson, B.; Koran; Mathews; Carlson - and tell them why RTV needs to stay in the omnibus. Contact them even if you are not their constituent.
Emergency Teach-In Tomorrow for Restore the Vote!
Things are heating up at the State Capitol. Take Action Minnesota is holding an Emergency Teach-In TOMORROW, May 9, to draw attention to the inaction of the GOP-controlled Senate on important bills that work to improve the lives of all Minnesotans, like Restore the Vote, Paid Family Leave, 100% Clean Energy and more.
What Do We Want? Equal Rights! When Do We Want It? Now!
"Equality under the law shall not be abridged or denied on account of gender," is all we're asking to be added to the MN constitution. Visit ERAMN for more information on the bills.
Take action to get the Senate to hear the bill, pass it, and add it to the ballot! Let the people of Minnesota decide! Can you take a few minutes out of your day to make Equal Rights a reality for future generations?
Restore the Vote Needs your Help!
The House version of this bill is now in the House Public Safety Omnibus bill (HF1603), but the Senate version (SF856) still awaits a hearing. Can you help by phonebanking with Take Action on this important subject? You'll be calling constituents in critical districts, and connecting supporters to their legislator's voicemail to leave a message urging them to vote for the bill.
Show up for LGBTQ justice and equity!
The top legislative priority for OutFront this year is a bill (HF12/SF83) to ban the practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ Youth and to require a warning for anyone over 18 about the harm it is known to cause!
Are you Comfortable at the Capitol?
And if you are unsure where things are at the Capitol - the House and Senate chambers, how to attend a committee hearing, where to find your legislator, - we have two more Women’s March MN-led tours of the State Capitol, Senate and State Office buildings. We would love to show you around!