[1] Though legislation outlawing same-sex sexual activity remained in nominal effect until 2023, it had been invalidated since 2001 when the state's Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

Several Native American tribes recognized individuals who would act, behave and live as the opposite biological sex, nowadays also called "two-spirit".

[6] In State v. Blom (1984), the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the criminal ban on sodomy also applied to the act of cunnilingus.

The ruling was later certified as being a class action lawsuit and the state did not appeal, thus voiding the law in terms of private, consensual, non-commercial acts of sodomy by consenting adults,[8] two years before Lawrence v. Texas.

There are also domestic partnership ordinances in 18 cities: In 1972, activist Jack Baker filed a lawsuit against the Hennepin County District Court Clerk Gerald R. Nelson, after being denied a marriage license to his partner Michael McConnell.

[33] In August 2014, Minnesota laws on both marriage and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation were upheld and declared valid by a settlement in court in the case of a same-sex couple and a hunting club that refused their wedding.

[34] In 1989, Governor Rudy Perpich created a state commission to study the prospect of adding sexual orientation to the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

The commission proposal was not passed by the Minnesota Legislature, but the subsequent governor, Arne Carlson, formed a similar committee in 1990.

[35] In 1992, Governor Carlson signed an executive order that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in state employment.

In 1993, Minnesota amended its statutes to prohibit discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation and/or gender identity in housing, insurance, goods and services, contracts, health benefits, hospital visitation rights, and employment.

[37] The 1993 law does not apply to religious organizations, youth groups and certain small businesses - reclassified and reimplemented by new 2024 legislation passed in May, that maintained this explicit exemption.

[40][41] In May 2023, an “omnibus community justice bill” passed the Minnesota Legislature and was signed into law by the Governor of Minnesota to (1) formally repeal the defunct and archaic 1993 “condemning homosexuality” law; (2) explicitly adding “gender identity” separately from sexual orientation and to also (3) repeal all exemptions for "nonpublic service organizations," such as the Boy Scouts, within anti-discrimination provisions.

[43] The law provides additional penalties for certain crimes committed based on the victim(s)' sexual orientation or gender identity, alongside other categories such as race, religion or sex.

[51] Changing legal gender on Minnesota birth certificates and other identity documents does not require undergoing sex reassignment surgery.

Minnesota law prohibits health insurance providers from excluding coverage for transgender-specific care or discriminating against transgender patients.

[3][54][55][56][57][58] In April 2023, the Minnesota Legislature formally passed a bill to codify and implement to legally ban conversion therapy practices on individuals.

[77] In May 2024, the Minnesota Senate just barely passed a bill to abolish the archaic “gay and trans panic defense”, by an extremely close vote of 34-33.

[78] The Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz signed the extensive “omnibus justice reforms bill” into law on the 29th May, 2024 - that included an additional provision added abolishing the “gay and trans panic defense”.

[80] The LGBT think tank Movement Advancement Project ranks Minnesota first, tied to Illinois, in the Midwestern United States in terms of LGBT rights legislation, noting that the state provides protection from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit, has inclusive health care policies particularly relating to transgender people, and permits transgender people to correct the gender marker on their identity documents by self-identification.

[81] Societal attitudes regarding LGBTQ people and same-sex relationships have evolved drastically in recent decades, going from antipathy and hostility to acceptance and tolerance, though Minnesota was always at the forefront of the early LGBT rights movement in the United States.

[83] Jean Tretter, who started the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies in the 1950s, which hosts over 40,000 LGBT historical materials, claimed that Minnesota's early role in the LGBT rights movement was due to "migration from the surrounding areas, like North and South Dakota or Iowa.

[82] In 1978, voters in Saint Paul repealed the city's provisions protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination, a setback for LGBT activists.

They encountered important political victories in 1990 when St. Paul reinstated its protections for LGBTQ people, a move later upheld by voters, and in 1993 when the state became the first in the country to prohibit unfair discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.

Today, the Twin Cities metro area has a vibrant LGBT culture, scene, and nightlife, with annual pride events, community centers, bars, clubs, cafés, and other venues.

[89] In July 2024, Rainbow Health (a lifesaving LGBT HIV prevention clinic) unexpectedly closed and shut down within the twin city area of Minnesota.

[90] A 2022 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that 77% of Minnesota residents supported same-sex marriage, while 21% were opposed and 2% were unsure.