There is good news coming out of Grand Forks today. Last evening the Grand Forks City Council led the State of North Dakota into the 21st Century when it voted to ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That is pretty big news for our state. Well, let me be one of [...]
Tag: discrimination
Go ahead – poll me.
InForum regularly features polls about current topics in the news. The polling interface they use allows you to see the current tabulation of the poll results. I often check the results of these polls as I believe they give a sense of in which direction the community is leaning - well, at least the select [...]
Liberty and justice for all?
People are not born activists. Activists are created by circumstances. Circumstances that define our reality or circumstances that clarify the strength of our beliefs - circumstances that compel us to act. Activists often marshal all their time and energy to fight for a cause that is unpopular or not fully understood, and as a result [...]
I speak out…
Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor born in the late 1800s and a vocal foe of Adolf Hitler, is the source of one of my favorite quotations. Niemöller's words below carry a powerful message about honoring the rights and equality of others. Unfortunately, there is always another reason to revisit his words. First they came [...]
The singular designation – I am North Dakotan.
I was drawn today to Teri Finneman's last Ask Your Government column. Teri's started a doctoral program and will not be doing this column any longer, but she leaves it with a powerful exit. The column addresses this question: Can someone be fired in North Dakota because they are gay? Teri went to Labor Commissioner Tony Weiler for an [...]
It’s time to clean out those nooks and crannies…
The Forum has a choice to make. Will it revise its existing policy on wedding announcements to allow for publication of same-sex wedding announcements? The opportunity for this choice arose from a denial sent to Allison Johnson by The Forum that informed her that the paper does not publish same-sex marriage announcements. Allison wanted to announce her [...]
THE NEW FORTY 