A brief overview of queer and trans history in Minnesota
There have always been people in Minnesota, as in the rest of the world, who have lived outside perceived norms of gender and sexuality; the words used to name them have changed over time.
Lizzie Ehrenhalt
In the 1940s, Edna Larrabee and Beulah Brunelle escaped from the Shakopee Reformatory for Women five times
Their fourth escape, in 1949, led to eight months of freedom and allowed the two women to live together as a couple while traveling around the United States.
Cecelia Regina Gonzaga’s brief time in Minnesota ended after she was arrested for impersonating a woman
Gonzaga strenuously defended herself, saying, “I have always earned an honest living, although I have not found life as bright as most people…I have always found it easier making a living doing women’s work than men’s.”
As the nexus between the Pigeon River and Lake Superior, Grand Portage has been an important Minnesota site for centuries
Indigenous people have used the eight-and-a-half-mile pathway that connects the Pigeon River with Lake Superior since at least the beginning of the first millennium CE.
Joseph Lobdell stood trial in Minnesota in 1858. His alleged crime? Impersonating a man.
The circumstances of Lobdell’s arrest are unclear.
From a Minneapolis art gallery’s basement to the heights of the alternative rock scene: Babes in Toyland
In their recordings and live performances, they honed an abrasive, commanding sound that attracted fans from across the United States and Europe.
