Pride on the Northside

June is LGBTQ+ Pride month, which celebrates the community and commemorates the Stonewall Riots that occurred in June 1969. In honor of Pride, here are four ways you can support North Minneapolis’ LGBTQ+ community. For additional ideas, please email ciriens@pillsburyunited.org or message the North News Facebook page. 

By Cirien Saadeh | Staff Reporter

1) For students entering or returning to high school in the fall, both North High School and Patrick Henry High School offer a Gender and Sexuality alliance (GSA), a student club which provides an opportunity for students to support their LGBTQ+ peers and explore their own identities. Students in the North News journalism class at North High recently developed and published a video which explored queer identities in their school. Check it out: 

Local business owner Connie Beckers sells rainbow glass for Pride and all-year long. Photo by Connie Beckers.

2) Shop at The Goddess of Glass, located at 4400 Osseo Rd. Owned by longtime Northsider Connie Beckers, the shop was ranked the #14 on the list of the Top 25 GLBT Owned Businesses by the Twin Cities Business Journal in 2012. Beckers’ offers several art classes a week and houses and sells the work of other local Northside artists. Check out her rainbow glass for Pride month!

3) Youth homelessness is a prevalent and alarming problem. Homeless LGBTQ+ youth face their own very specific challenges related to homelessness, often related to their identities. To support these young people, check out Avenues for Homeless Youth in North Minneapolis or the Backpack Project MN. Avenues for Homeless Youth offers a GLBT Host Home Program, which provides a non-institutional response to LGBTQ+ youth homelessness. You can also fill a backpack with daily use personal care essentials and deliver it to Backpack Project MN who will distribute it to homeless youth in the Twin Cities (LGBTQ+ and not).

4) Attend Twin Cities Pride!  Twin Cities Pride will begin June 23 at 10am and continue through June 24 at 6pm. Though it's not technically in North Minneapolis, many of the events are nearby.