The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is a state-level governmental body in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

tasked with investigating abuses of its

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

laws and educating the public about them.

History

Prior to the establishment of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decennia ...

created the State Commission Against Discrimination in 1955. Its role was to protect the

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

residents, and to provide necessary services for them. This was in response to the amendment that the Legislature made to the fair employment practices act to include a housing provision. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights was founded in 1967, to succeed the State Commission Against Discrimination. This is because new federal

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

laws were being passed in the United States, and the state of Minnesota wished to have an official body to handle violation of these civil rights laws. In 1973, Minnesota passed the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which the Department of Human Rights would enforce. That act, with subsequent renumbering and amendments, is codified as Chapter 363A of

Minnesota Statutes Minnesota Statutes are a compilation of the official laws of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Minnesota Statutes comprise only of the general and permanent laws of the state. The Office of the Revisor of Statutes publishes a complete set of statutes ...

Minnesota Human Rights Act

Minnesota has more comprehensive anti-

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

legislation than the federal government. The Minnesota Human Rights Act identifies thirteen " protected classes":

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

, color, creed,

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, national origin, sex, marital status, familial status, disability, public assistance, age,

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

, and local

activity. It is illegal in the state of Minnesota to discriminate against these thirteen protected classes in business, credit, education, employment, housing, public accommodations, and public services.

Role of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights educates people within the state of Minnesota about the Human Rights Act, and encourages those who have experienced discrimination—or who believe that they have experienced discrimination—to file complaints with their human rights investigators. While their main office is located in

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, due to high demand the Minnesota Department of Human Rights also has a human rights investigator in St. Cloud.

Organization

A commissioner and deputy commissioner oversee a communications team, a legal team, and a pool of investigators. The commissioner must have a law degree and experience in civil rights legislation.

Local Minnesota Human Rights Commissions

Nearly fifty towns and cities in Minnesota have local human rights commissions composed of any combination of volunteers, city council representatives, clergy, or other local authority figure. Several of these human rights commissions work with a human rights investigator hired by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in St. Paul but assigned to work in that town or city.

References

{{authority control Human rights in the United States

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...