Issue Position: Human Rights

Issue Position

Minnesota's strong human rights record has recently been improved by the passage of laws protecting same sex marriage and rejection of laws threatening the right to vote.

The LGBT community needs additional protections, including protection against workplace, health care and housing discrimination as well as economic protection by extending tax and other financial benefits to gay marriage and non-conventional couples.

The treaty rights of Native Americans and legislative rights extended to Native Americans should be protected by the state government. Race-based attacks on Native American rights should be opposed by the state. Furthermore, human rights of many other ethnic groups are being attacked by some forces and the state should intervene to protect them.

Human rights of workers have been eroded by recent court decisions. The state should protect workers from sexual abuse, bullying, and other unfair treatment.

Undocumented immigrants do not forfeit human rights due to their immigration status, and the state should intervene to protect them both in the workplace and elsewhere. The state should use care in dealing with efforts of some other branches of government to prosecute undocumented immigrants so that it does not interfere with human rights of the immigrants.

Voting rights are the paramount right in our political system. The state should resist all efforts to make voting by the elderly, the poor, racial minorities, students, and disabled people more difficult. Same day registration and absentee voting policies have made Minnesota and Duluth national leaders in voter turnout. We should be proud of our high voter turnout and protect these policies.

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