Dear friends,
As your voice in the legislature and the courts, True North Legal and Minnesota Family Council want to be sure you are equipped with information to engage on critical issues regarding life, family, and religious freedom.
Many of you have been following recent changes to the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which is not only consequential to Christians, but people of all faiths in Minnesota. This issue is of critical and urgent concern for all of us who believe in religious freedom in Minnesota. I’d like to provide you with more information on these changes from the perspective of a religious freedom attorney, and also ask you to take a moment to tell your legislators to protect religious freedom by clicking this link or the button below to go to Minnesota Family Council’s action alert.
In short, last year the legislature amended the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) by adding explicit legal protections for people based on “gender identity”. Previously protections extended to “sexual orientation” and were interpreted to apply to gender identity. The MHRA also included protections for religious organizations via a religious exemption established in 1993 when sexual orientation was added to the list of protected groups in the MHRA. This exemption prohibited the state from forcing religious organizations to comply with the anti-discrimination law provisions with respect to protected categories like sexual orientation when those provisions are inconsistent with a religious organization’s sincerely held beliefs. (See Minn. Stat. 363A.20, 363A.26).
The religious exemption statute was not amended last year to make clear that the legislature intended to maintain protections for religious organizations. The words “gender identity” should have been included in the exemption as well. While we had hoped it was an oversight, last month the House Judiciary Chair stated on the record that the omission of those words was intentional. A discussion ensued during the committee where Democratic legislators not only refused to accept an amendment to protect religious organizations, but also called the amendment to protect religious organizations “disturbing” and “disgusting.” This despite hearing reasoned testimony from members of different faith communities, including Christians, Catholics, and Muslims.
The Minnesota Senate also took up the MHRA bill providing another opportunity to testify and request that the Senate amend the bill and restore protections for religious organizations. We had around 24 hours’ notice from Sunday to Monday to prepare for this hearing. I arrived at 6:00 pm on Monday and testified at 12:30 am on Tuesday morning. You can watch my testimony here on Instagram or here on YouTube. Testifiers were only given two minutes for remarks on this significant issue and the committee Chairman stated his intent to wrap up any discussion on the MHRA bill in 20 minutes.
The time for solidarity for religious freedom and from religious people is now! You can click on this link to ask your legislators to stand up for religious freedom. We align on this issue with many faith communities in Minnesota. To be clear, our ecumenical partnerships are not a departure from our strong Christian convictions and beliefs. Our partnership is a reflection of our understanding that if we want religious freedom for ourselves, we have to extend it to others. And, in this freedom we have the great opportunity, and duty, to share the gospel!
Having worked with ministries and churches for quite a few years while also being involved in ministry and married to a pastor, the Lord has uniquely prepared me to be on the frontlines of this issue. He does not waste anything in my life experiences or yours!
True North Legal will continue in the work to restore our legal protections under Minnesota law. It is a joy to co-labor with all of you.
Renee Carlson
General Counsel, True North Legal