(Minneapolis) – The Minnesota Lavender Bar Association (MLBA), an organization of attorneys, law students, and other legal professionals working to assure that Minnesota is a community where legal professionals can thrive regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, praised today’s action by the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) issuing an executive summary of a report that identifies dozens of potential changes in Minnesota law to help same-sex couples. The suggested changes, which will now be referred to appropriate MSBA sections and committees for formal endorsement and further action, would affect areas including family, probate, tax, employment, and other aspects of the law.

“This report builds on previous efforts to identify legal barriers same-sex couples face, by highlighting priority areas for change,” said David E. Ahlvers, MLBA Board of Directors and Co-Chair of MSBA’s Task Force on the Rights of Unmarried Couples. “It’s a significant roadmap to one approach for statutory reform in the coming years.”

The report from the MSBA’s Task Force on the Rights of Unmarried Couples is premised on the assessment that the Minnesota legislature will not approve marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples in the short term. The report outlines many areas where discrete reforms could be accomplished which would benefit these couples and their families in the meantime. But, according to language the MSBA affirmatively approved today, “The changes proposed … will not effectuate comprehensive equality for unmarried couples, and should not be seen as a sufficient alternative to a comprehensive solution.” Rather, they are short-term improvements the State should consider “while moving toward a viable long-term solution to the problem of wholesale exclusion of same-sex couples from the protection of our legal system.”

Today’s action brings the MSBA closer than ever to endorsing the concept of marriage equality: “The deprivation of access to marriage these couples experience works real harm. … This absolute exclusion fosters a state approved, second class citizenship, and casts same-sex couples into a legal void,” today’s approved language states. “[T]he impact of the disparate treatment is far reaching and detrimental to couples who are not afforded the opportunity to seek the legal protections and obligations of marriage … .”

“The MSBA is clearly moving in the right direction on GLBT issues, including relationship recognition,” says MLBA co-chair Melissa Houghtaling. “We salute the MSBA’s progress, while recommitting ourselves to our years-long work of continuing and expanding the dialog in the legal community about issues our community faces.”

MLBA is a recognized affiliate of the MSBA and of the National LGBT Bar Association.
Click here to read the complete report or click here to read the Executive Summary

The ABA committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) will be holding hearings during the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago (July 30-Aug. 4, 2009), and is seeking people who are willing to share their difficult experiences/poignant stories related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Please share this with your groups and encourage those willing to testify to contact Jeff Gibson (jgibson@g3mh.com) or Michael Helfgott (helfgotm@staff.abanet.org) as soon as possible.

ABA President Tommy Wells has formed a committee to expand the organization's diversity efforts, to examine how the face of diversity has changed over the years and to determine what direction diversity may take in the future. Our representative on the committee reports that the ABA is in need of education concerning GLBT issues. Please help ensure that the GLBT voice is heard, and ask your members to go to the ABA website and take the survey: www.abanet.org/diversity/summit

The Urban Lawyer, the ABA's national quarterly law journal on local government law and urban legal affairs, is seeking articles on GLBT & diversity concerns. See the following for more information: www.abanet.org/diversity/summit

The National LGBT Bar Association's Nominations Committee is seeking affiliate members for Board, committee, and appointed representative positions. Please consider volunteering and contact Kelly Olmstead at klolmstead@rkmc.com if you are interested.