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Last week I was reminded of a saying my mom taught me: If you tie your own shoelaces together, you don’t get to blame someone else for tripping you. And as a queer man I’d add: You don’t do our community any favors by blaming your fall on being queer.
This has been on my mind because of the series of disastrous decisions made by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty during the prosecution of Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan (a case that my law partners defended, but which I have not participated in). Moriarty recently decided to end the ill-conceived prosecution, just about the only justice that can be found in what is otherwise an all-around tragedy. But Moriarty then decided to compound her series of legally and ethically dubious decisions by blaming Gov. Tim Walz and others because she is an openly queer woman.
As a proud member of the queer community, a former candidate myself, and a supporter and donor to Moriarty’s 2022 campaign, I feel compelled to speak up.
To do that, I want to start 20 years ago, when I was fresh out of college. In 2004 I marched in the Minneapolis gay pride parade wearing a T-shirt with a very simple phrase on the front: “I do.” At that time, it was meant to be provocative because the notion of legally marrying a same-sex partner was seen as radical. President George W. Bush proposed amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Vermont Gov. Howard Dean ran for president and was seen by many as too extreme in part because he backed civil unions (let alone same-sex marriage).
The road from that time in 2004 to saying “I do” myself on Dec. 30, 2023, has been long, both personally and politically.
I grew up in a small town in southern Minnesota. One of the first signs of a real change was in 2007 when I watched the new congressman from my old hometown district forcefully speak out, not only for gay rights but for same-sex marriage. His name was Tim Walz, and he went out of his way to speak up for the gay community at a time that few leaders in the Democratic Party were willing to do so. Walz did it because championing equality and justice are a core part of his values — not because it was politically safe.