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Minnesota's leading LGBTQ+ groups tell The Advocate what a Walz vice presidency could mean for queer communities.
Ask anyone in Minnesota right now and they’ll tell you – it’s strange to be getting so much national attention.
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Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris announced Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate for the November election, all eyes have turned to the North Star State and the legacy Walz is leaving behind. The feeling among residents now is best summed up by Andi Otto, executive director of the largest Pride festival in the state, Twin Cities Pride.
“It's weird to have all the attention now on us and our policies here in Minnesota,” Otto tells The Advocate.
To Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in the state, "Minnesotans are fired up about this” development, and "maybe even overly proud of seeing one of our own on the national stage." Though it isn’t just their sense of state pride influencing their enthusiasm.
Walz’s pro-LGBTQ+ record goes far beyond his time in office, also spanning across his years in education and the military. Though he hasn’t always been known to LGBTQ+ communities around the U.S., queer organizations in his state see Walz as a “beacon” of support.
"LGBTQ folks in particular have seen the impact that the last two years of legislation and action on behalf of LGBTQ communities have had,” Rohn says. “To have a governor who's outspoken in his support for those priorities is a huge win for our state. I think people are enthusiastic about what that could mean for messaging and work out of our potential future administration."
Walz was one of the first members of Congress to support marriage equality, and has since used his executive power as governor to take several actions protecting LGBTQ+ people in Minnesota. These included orders banning so-called conversion therapy, and shielding those receiving gender-affirming care or abortions.
“We've been in this little safe haven here in Minnesota, and knowing that part of the reason for that safe haven has been because of him definitely gives us that little ounce of hope that we're going to be OK,” Otto says.
Otto specifically highlighted Walz’s executive order protecting gender-affirming care, which subsequently led to the state legislature passing a “shield law” enshrining the right to receive the treatment – even when coming from out-of-state – without prosecution.
“For me, as a trans man, the trans refugee status and protections are incredibly powerful,” he says. “Especially since I've lived in other states like this, and I look at those states now and see that quite honestly, I couldn't live there anymore. We're seeing this huge increase of people seeking refuge here in Minnesota just to live an authentic life.”
To Dave Edwards, founder of educational consulting group Gender Inclusive Schools, Walz’s educational policies are some of the most significant. As the head of an organization offering “professional development and full staff training for school communities on being LGBTQ+-inclusive,” Edwards says Walz’s ban on book bans and protections for transgender students reflect “common sense values of acceptance and celebration of all the different kinds of people that exist in Minnesota.”
“He gets it,” Edwards says. “He knows what it means to go to work in a public school system every single day for so long.”
Given Walz’s background as a white, straight, working class veteran from a rural community, his support of progressive causes can come off as a “surprise” to some people, but Rohn explains that these aspects of his identity are actually inseparably linked.
"It may come as a surprise to some people when they line up those two pieces of veteran coach and rural Minnesota. But I actually think that a lot of what I know about Tim Walz as a person, and how he approaches these issues, is so rooted in that,” she says. “It changes the conversation around LGBTQ issues in a way that is relatable for a lot of folks."
Walz’s rhetoric has been an instrumental part of his outreach, as Edwards believes the governor is able to package his beliefs in a way that comes across as agreeable to the average voter. This is particularly evident in his pro-LGBTQ+ talking points, and his fight against “bullies.”
“It's been a really big breath of fresh air for the way he frames support and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, and the way he unapologetically provides legislation that's going to protect rights,” Edwards explains. “Walz especially has been really good at messaging that spirit of inclusion, saying things like, ‘We stand up to bullies’ – things that most people can get behind. … Let’s stop the culture war nonsense and focus on things that really matter.”
“We have older, cisgender men in our life who may not understand everything, but then look at our family and say, we care about you and we know you're good people,” he continues.
For those who do not have the typical patriarchal figure in their lives, or for those who have lost theirs, Otto also believes that Walz can be an example for queer people who don’t receive acceptance in their daily lives.
“One of the things that current voters – especially in our community – are looking at is when we got kicked out of homes because of who we were. We look to that figure, and I think some folks are probably finding it in him,” he says.
While Minnesotans will miss having Walz as their governor if Harris makes it to the Oval Office with him as veep, they’re also excited by the prospect of his replacement, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who Otto says has “always been an advocate of our community.” Rohn also emphasized how Flanagan, who would be the first Indigenous woman governor in U.S. history, has taken the time "to really understand how organizations and activists can play into a really successful state government."
"I am a huge fan of Peggy Flanagan on a personal level,” Rohn says. “I will give her a ton of credit for being somebody who has really proactively taken time to engage with organizations across our ecosystem and really taken the time to listen to them."
The groups showed even greater enthusiasm for the idea of a Harris-Walz Administration, believing that it would have the potential to be the most pro-LGBTQ+ administration yet, even if Congress isn't entirely controlled by the Democrats. That, however, all depends on November.
"I don't know what Congress will look like in the coming years,” Rohn says. “But one of the biggest things that an executive branch can do is lead the way on tone, and be creative about how it applies executive actions, how it uses its agencies, and how it brings in voices to really inform perspective."
To Edwards, Harris and Walz bring something to the table that Republican candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance just can’t. He says that the Democrats are “able to evolve and grow too in ways that respond to new information and new understanding.”
“Given the alternative, it's not even a comparison,” he says.
Otto adds that “no matter what the outcome is, we just don't want to see our rights continuously taken away.” With anti-LGBTQ+ legislation still on the rise and the threat of Project 2025 looming, “to see the [Harris-Walz] campaign pushing for our rights is incredibly hopeful in a world where we're very nervous at this point in time.”
“Our community isn't going anywhere,” Otto emphasizes. “Especially when you look at politics these days – they need to realize that we're not going anywhere.”
As for what LGBTQ+ Minnesotans want to see from their governor if he ascends to the vice presidency, the answer is simple.
“We'd like the things that have happened in Minnesota to be national legislation,” Edwards says. “The rights to reproductive freedom, the rights to healthcare – all those things are important for everybody, not just Minnesotans.”
