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Have you ever thought to yourself, what’s with all these states ratifying an equal rights amendment but we still ain’t got no equal rights? Minnesota has! And they’ve been busy doing something about that, while also getting themselves a new flag and doing a bunch of other things, also, too. Let’s take a look at a busy week of making Minnesota amazing.
The most visible change has been the adoption of that new flag. The old flag incorporated a seal that was literally designed to represent “Manifest Destiny” and the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Minnesotans:
“For the artists who created the seal, this is intended to be an allegory of oncoming progress and civilization, and the removal of Native people from the landscape,” said Minnesota Historical Society Director of Research William Convery.
Some people over the last 130 years might have seen that as a problem! But not to worry, we at least have some justice delayed. A commission on state symbols recommended a new flag last year, which is now flying above the capitol and all state buildings as of Minnesota Statehood Day. (What day was that? It was Saturday. You didn’t celebrate?) The new flag has some markedly better symbolism:
The flag’s dark blue is meant to represent the sky with an eight-pointed star of the north evoking Minnesota’s motto. The light blue represents Minnesota’s abundant waters.
Oh, Lordy, you don’t know Minnesota’s motto, either? It’s “L’étoile du Nord,” or “Star of the North,” adopted in Civil War-era Minnesota at a time when Frederick Douglass was getting more and more recognition for publishing The North Star, his defiant abolition newspaper, which was banned throughout the South. (The North Star had changed its name before Minnesota made the phrase its motto in 1861, but it was still widely associated with Douglass and abolitionism, and the state’s choice was made knowingly.) So that’s cool. And weird. The South banning newspapers? Huh.
For those who worry that Minnesota is erasing history, the last flag using the old design was lovingly folded and handed off to the Minnesota Historical Society. We are also sure that those concerned about historical erasure will celebrate the new-this-month illustrated history of the state’s Ojibwe people, Fur Trade Nation, written and drawn by Duluth-area artist and University of Minnesota history teacher, Carl Gawboy, a member of the Bois Forte Ojibwe who was not Manifest Destinied out of the state. History is pen-and-inked by the bad ass!
And while all of that is great, the best is still to come. Given the frustrating proceduralism that has led to the federal Equal Rights Amendment being ratified by three-quarters of the states without becoming law, the Minnesota legislature decided to take the matter into its own hands, and it wrote a thing, Minnesota SF 37. It’s a good thing! Let’s read:
All persons shall be guaranteed equal rights under the laws of this state. The state shall not discriminate against any person in intent or effect on account of one or more of the following:
(a) race;
(b) color;
(c) national origin;
(d) ancestry;
(e) disability; or
(f) sex, including but not limited to:
(i) making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy or decision whether to become or remain pregnant;
(ii) gender identity or gender expression; or
(iii) sexual orientation.
Any action by the state that denies an individual’s equal rights shall be invalid unless, at a minimum, it is the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling governmental interest.
Did you read in there how, if adopted, the constitution would now grant two large middle fingers to any state official who wanted to create a uterus-tracking system? Wonkette did!
While Minnesota has some great non-discrimination laws on the books, including safe harbor laws prohibiting assistance to other states’ investigations of abortions or felonious instances of treating trans healthcare like healthcare, the amendment is seen as a useful tool to make sure that the state supreme court did not find the legislature to have exceeded its authority. To ultimately amend the state constitution requires passing both houses of the legislature and then a vote by the people.
The state senate finished its work just over a year ago, and though the state house has been slower, it is voting this very Monday, May 13. (Today.) Cross your fingers! (Or just google the result if you’re reading this in the afternoon.) The Senate’s vote was 43 to 23, which included many of the Minnesota nice brand of Republicans (yes, we were surprised, too!) and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has a much larger majority in the House, so we are expecting the amendment to pass and show up on the ballot in the fall of 2026.
Of course not everyone considers that a great thing. The Minnesota Reformer cites the usual suspects grumping:
“We have a number of problems with it on a number of levels,” said Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, standing behind a “STOP ERA” sign in a press conference Wednesday.
The first complaint is that religion isn’t included in the long list above. Religious rights were already in the state constitution, but who cares about facts? Also, too, they worried that the constitution would protect “abortion up to birth.” Meanwhile, Minnesota’s state chapter of the Family Research Council fretted the ERA “would grant children a constitutional right to gender-affirming care.” Imagine the horror!
The Republican Party also raised a parliamentary point of order:
Republican House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth said she is “very disappointed” that Democrats developed the proposal without Republican input. Her motion to submit the proposal to questioning in other House committees failed along party lines.
We know that the GOP has always been concerned with minority rights when it has legislative power, so we see their point and wish them a long two years of SUCK IT until Minnesota voters ratify the amendment and the SUCK IT becomes permanent.
