Hall also shared an article on social media linking being LGBTQ with childhood sexual trauma
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – In a story published today by City Pages, it was revealed that, during Twin Cities Pride weekend, Republican Senator Dan Hall attended an event for a pro-conversion therapy group.
Freedom March, a self-described “group of Christians who have been delivered from LGTBQ lifestyles,” set up shop under some white tents and got ready to testify. Its leadership, as indicated on its website, is composed of “former homosexuals” and “former transgenders” who have since left those identities behind through “the power of the blood of Jesus.”
“Freedom March is not about suppression,” the site says. “It’s about FREEDOM.”
There was a decent crowd assembled to hear music, prayer, and testimonials, including one person in particular mingling in the audience: Minnesota state Sen. Dan Hall (R-Burnsville)…
…It’s now generally less acceptable to be patently against gay people—and increasingly less so for trans people. Times have changed. Has Hall?
Hall didn’t respond to interview requests, so it’s hard to know for sure, but his Facebook presence hasn’t evolved much since 2012. On June 10, he posted an article about a study claiming there is “no evidence people are born gay or transgender,” and quoted a section that implies queerness may just be the result of being messed up by childhood sexual trauma.
Dan Hall even got a shout-out during the anti-LGBTQ event for helping block a bill banning LGBTQ youth from being subjected to the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy. A Freedom March organizer praised Hall as being “instrumental in helping to shut [the conversion therapy ban] down.”
Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement in response:
“It’s appalling that Senator Dan Hall attended an event supporting the bigoted and discredited practice of trying to pressure people into changing their sexual orientation. It’s no wonder Hall and his fellow Senate Republicans voted down an attempt to ban conversion therapy in Minnesota.
“While Minnesotans overwhelmingly support their LGBTQ peers, it’s clear that Republicans remain mired in the prejudice and hate of the past.”