Tim Walz Teacher and Facilitator for a Gay-Straight Alliance

 

FORBES

 

 

Tim Walz Once Advised A High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance—What We Know About The Governor And The Club

 

 

TOPLINE Some 25 years before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz became Kamala Harris' running mate, he was picked to serve as a faculty advisor for a Minnesota high school's Gay-Straight Alliance--the first club of its kind at the school, and a role some of Walz's former students have praised him for in recent weeks.

 

Walz became the GSA's faculty advisor during its first year in 1999. (Photo by KAMIL  

The creation of the GSA in 1999 was spurred by a former student of Walz’s wife, Gwen, Jacob Reitan, who was increasingly bullied toward the end of his time at Mankato West High School and eventually asked school officials for support to start the organization, according to The New York Times, with Reitan later deciding to come out and inviting peers via leaflets to join the club.

Walz taught geography, coached football and had served in the National Guard by the time the school principal asked Walz to become the GSA’s faculty advisor, marking a pivotal moment for the high school, which was located about 80 miles south of Minneapolis in what was considered a rural, relatively conservative region, the Times reported.

The GSA’s faculty advisor “needed to be the football coach, who was the soldier and was straight and was married," Walz told the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2018 when he was first elected governor.

Reitan, now a lawyer and LGBTQ activist, told the Times it was “important to have a person who was so well-liked on campus,” adding Walz’s role as the GSA’s advisor made him feel safe at school and that the bullying mostly stopped following the club’s formation.

Seth Elliot Meyer, who came out as a queer student in 2000, told The Independent he naively thought at first that someone with masculine characteristics like Walz’ would not be on his side, noting Walz and his wife were instrumental in helping him understand who his allies were among students and faculty.

Micah Kronlokken, a student of Walz coached by the governor in seventh-grade track and field, said Walz has an "insane memory for people," and is a "safe person, and you knew that if you needed something, you could go to him, and he could help you with it,” according to The Independent.

Laura Matson, a straight former member of the GSA, told The Washington Post that parents of some Mankato students stopped their children from going to school during a GSA-organized day that highlighted awareness of sexual orientation discrimination, provoking a conversation between Walz and Matson in which he encouraged her, saying some people “just don’t understand” and the GSA will “keep doing what we’re doing and raise awareness.’”

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Walz’s role as an LGBTQ supporter was a rare position to take in 1999 when gay people were more openly discriminated against and gay marriage was not legally recognized by any state. Walz's support for the LGBTQ community extended well beyond the classroom and into his politics, deciding to run for Congress in 2006 on a platform including support for same-sex marriage, which was not codified in Minnesota until 2013—two years before gay marriage was legalized in all 50 states. Walz, who served in the military for more than 25 years, also pushed back against “Don’t ask, don’t tell”—the military policy barring openly gay people from serving in the armed forces. Walz supported the repeal of the policy in 2011. The Minnesota governor has also pushed forward policies regarding gender-affirming care as increasingly more states have passed bans or restrictions on it in recent years. Walz made an executive order in 2023 protecting gender-affirming care for transgender patients and protecting them, parents and doctors from punishment for seeking or providing out-of-state care (some states have laws restricting people from receiving gender-affirming care in other states).