Gay Rights Activists Protest Appearance by Anita Bryant, Minneapolis, 1977

Celebrity morals avenger Anita Bryant visited the Twin Cities on May 21, 1977, to help dedicate a new fruit warehouse in Minneapolis. (She was, after all, a spokeswoman for Florida citrus growers.) Bryant had recently achieved a new level of national prominence by spearheading support for an anti-gay ordinance in Dade County, Florida. Gay rights activists in the Twin Cities were not about to let her swoop into Minneapolis without letting her know what they thought of her. On the day of her appearance at the warehouse, several hundred protesters gathered nearby to celebrate what they dubbed “National Fruit Day.”

Photo via Flickr Photostream: RamDriver

Midnight Weirdness at the Uptown Theater, Minneapolis, 1978

Minneapolis’s Uptown Theater introduced midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on May 19, 1978. It was the beginning an impressive 18-year run.

So, in honor of this anniversary, may I offer…a toast!…

Photo via Minnesota Historical Society

Jack Baker and Michael McConnell Apply for Marriage License in Minneapolis, 1970 (by R. Bertrand Heine)

On the afternoon of May 18, 1970, University of Minnesota law student Jack Baker and U of M employee Michael McConnell walked into a drab government office in Minneapolis, filled out a form, paid a $10 filing fee, and applied for a marriage license. It was apparently the first time in U.S. history that anyone had ever taken the initial steps to pursue a legally-recognized gay marriage. Baker and McConnell’s marriage application was eventually denied (Hennepin County Attorney George M. Scott advised that, in any marriage, “there should be a male and a female involved”), but the two men did not give up. They filed a lawsuit challenging the denial of their marriage license application. In the end, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled against them, saying that marriage was “a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family.” Baker and McConnell appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the justices declined to take up the case, essentially setting aside the question of the constitutionality of gay marriage for another time. That was 40 years ago.

Image via Minnesota Historical Society

Vision of a Downtown Minneapolis Stadium, Circulated by Boosters of the Bloomington, MN, Site, c. 1977

How’s this for a coincidence:

On May 11, 1977, the Minnesota legislature approved a bill clearing the way for construction of a new stadium somewhere in the Twin Cities metro area. The legislation created a seven-person citizens’ commission to decide where to build the stadium (Bloomington and downtown Minneapolis were considered the top choices), whether it should be domed, and how much public money (up to $55 million) should be spent on it. The ultimate result, of course, was our beloved Metrodome.

Now, almost exactly 35 years later, our legislators have approved another stadium bill, one that condemns the Metrodome to oblivion.

Too bad they couldn’t cap the taxpayer contribution at $55 million as they did back in 1977…

Image from Uncovering the Dome, by Amy Klobuchar