A large swath of Democrats in Minnesota are demanding action after a recent DFL Feminist Caucus meeting reportedly saw “repeated misgendering,” disapproving eyerolls, and suggestions that some attendees “do not understand the feminist movement.”
Those allegations were issued in a letter signed by more than 1,200 Democrats including state legislators, city councilors, and DFL party officials. Mayoral candidate Omar Fateh and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty are among the signatories.
According to the letter, the DFL Feminist Caucus met last week for their annual meeting. The caucus, which supports candidates “who will champion women in office,” gathered to elect new caucus officers and conduct other business.
However, that meeting allegedly saw “repeated misgendering of a nonbinary member;” “misgendering of a trans woman member running for a leadership position;” and “eyerolls and other visible or audible signs of disapproval or annoyance when members were reminded to use someone’s correct pronouns.”
Additionally, leaders of the caucus reportedly suggested that “newer or younger members in the meeting do not have a feminist agenda or do not understand the feminist movement seemingly based only on their newness to the caucus, age, gender, or pronouns.”
At that meeting, several transgender and nonbinary candidates were reportedly running for leadership roles within the DFL Feminist Caucus. None of those candidates were elected.
The letter further alleged there are other incidents that “suggest a pattern of transphobic behavior within the DFL at large, outside of this caucus.” Those include “misgendering” at a separate meeting and attendees of the Minneapolis DFL Convention being “directed towards the incorrect bathroom” and being “asked to leave the women’s bathroom.”
In turn, more than 1,000 Democrats are asking the statewide DFL to denounce the alleged behavior, decertify the Feminist Caucus as a DFL affiliate, suspend several officials within the party, and provide training to the Feminist Caucus leadership on “the concept of intersectional feminism” and “the appropriate use of gender pronouns.”
A DFL activist named Dex Anderson is also filing a complaint against members of the DFL Feminist Caucus for the actions alleged in the aforementioned letter. A self-described “non-binary person,” Anderson ran for vice chair of the DFL Feminist Caucus but did not win.
Alpha News reached out to the DFL and the DFL Feminist Caucus for this story but did not hear back.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
