Jack Baker (activist)
Encyclopedia
Jack Baker is an American LGBT
activist in the state of Minnesota
. He and his partner, James Michael McConnell, were the first American gay couple to seek a marriage license and the first gay couple to establish a legal relationship via adult adoption.
), the group Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (FREE), was founded at the University of Minnesota
. It was the first campus organization run by and for gay students in the United States. Jack Baker was its first President. A successor organization, the Queer Student Cultural Center
, is officially recognized as a student group. Baker, however, rejects outright the label "Queer" as applied to him or his lover.
In 1971, Baker ran for President of the student body at the University of Minnesota
Twin Cities campus. His theme, "Student Control over Student Concerns," urged students "to search out a new self-respect."
Baker attracted interest in his campaign with a poster that showed him crouched in casual jeans and lady's high-heeled pumps. The punch line was "Put Yourself in Jack Baker's Shoes". As a well-known gay activist, he was attacking both sexism
and heterosexism
. Distributed widely on campus, the poster attracted much attention. Most copies were stolen, only to reappear in dorm rooms. Later, some were offered for sale. (A copy of this poster is in the archives of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
of the University of Minnesota Libraries.)
Regents were stunned when Jack Baker won the election. He was the first openly gay person to be elected as student body president at any major university.
As student body president, Baker called on the legislature to appoint a student to the Board of Regents. Meanwhile, Baker persuaded the Regents to allow students to sit on Regent committees, and to start a student-run bookstore. He had also proposed that the University purchase a local FM radio station, and build student-owned and operated apartments. After Baker graduated from law school, the Governor signed a law requiring one Regent to be a student.
Baker was re-elected easily in 1972, something no other U of M student body president had ever done. Baker's sexual orientation was never a major issue. Focusing on campus issues, he campaigned on the need to complete projects he started. Baker was re-elected with 43% of the vote in a 9-way race.
, has been frequently cited as precedent in various gay marriage cases since then.
Later in 1971, the couple applied for and were awarded a marriage license in Mankato, Blue Earth County, and were married before a Methodist minister (Rev. Roger Lynn) in Minneapolis, Minnesota
. They maintain that they are legally married under this license; the government claims that the Supreme Court ruling automatically makes this marriage license null and void. During the early 1970s, they filed joint tax returns, which were accepted by the IRS. In 2004, after passage of Defense of Marriage Act
, their joint tax return was rejected, and they filed suit against the IRS.
In June 1972, at the State Convention of the DFL
(Democratic) party, Baker and other LGBT delegates persuaded the Convention to adopt a Party platform
plank supporting equal marriage rights for all adults. This is believed to be the first support for gay marriage by any major United States political party.
, where they were both students at the time.
. Baker won 30% of the vote, the highest vote total a challenger has ever received.
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
activist in the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He and his partner, James Michael McConnell, were the first American gay couple to seek a marriage license and the first gay couple to establish a legal relationship via adult adoption.
Student activism
On May 18, 1969, (pre-StonewallStonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
), the group Fight Repression of Erotic Expression (FREE), was founded at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. It was the first campus organization run by and for gay students in the United States. Jack Baker was its first President. A successor organization, the Queer Student Cultural Center
Queer Student Cultural Center
The Queer Student Cultural Center is the current incarnation of the coming out, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer, intersex, and allied communities organization of the University of Minnesota campuses that has been active since May 1969 ....
, is officially recognized as a student group. Baker, however, rejects outright the label "Queer" as applied to him or his lover.
In 1971, Baker ran for President of the student body at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Twin Cities campus. His theme, "Student Control over Student Concerns," urged students "to search out a new self-respect."
Baker attracted interest in his campaign with a poster that showed him crouched in casual jeans and lady's high-heeled pumps. The punch line was "Put Yourself in Jack Baker's Shoes". As a well-known gay activist, he was attacking both sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and heterosexism
Heterosexism
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...
. Distributed widely on campus, the poster attracted much attention. Most copies were stolen, only to reappear in dorm rooms. Later, some were offered for sale. (A copy of this poster is in the archives of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is a collection of GLBT historical materials housed in the Special Collections and Rare Books section of the University of Minnesota Libraries, located underground in the Elmer L. Andersen...
of the University of Minnesota Libraries.)
Regents were stunned when Jack Baker won the election. He was the first openly gay person to be elected as student body president at any major university.
As student body president, Baker called on the legislature to appoint a student to the Board of Regents. Meanwhile, Baker persuaded the Regents to allow students to sit on Regent committees, and to start a student-run bookstore. He had also proposed that the University purchase a local FM radio station, and build student-owned and operated apartments. After Baker graduated from law school, the Governor signed a law requiring one Regent to be a student.
Baker was re-elected easily in 1972, something no other U of M student body president had ever done. Baker's sexual orientation was never a major issue. Focusing on campus issues, he campaigned on the need to complete projects he started. Baker was re-elected with 43% of the vote in a 9-way race.
Gay marriage
On May 18, 1970 Baker & McConnell applied for a marriage license as a gay couple in Hennepin County, Minnesota. This is apparently the first attempted gay marriage in the United States. The Clerk of Court denied them a license. They sued and lost in District Court, appealed and lost in the Minnesota Supreme Court, and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which dismissed the case for want of a substantial federal question. The case opinion, Baker v. NelsonBaker v. Nelson
Richard John Baker v. Gerald R. Nelson was a case in which the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Minnesota law limited marriage to different-sex couples and that this limitation did not violate the United States Constitution...
, has been frequently cited as precedent in various gay marriage cases since then.
Later in 1971, the couple applied for and were awarded a marriage license in Mankato, Blue Earth County, and were married before a Methodist minister (Rev. Roger Lynn) in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. They maintain that they are legally married under this license; the government claims that the Supreme Court ruling automatically makes this marriage license null and void. During the early 1970s, they filed joint tax returns, which were accepted by the IRS. In 2004, after passage of Defense of Marriage Act
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law whereby the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state...
, their joint tax return was rejected, and they filed suit against the IRS.
In June 1972, at the State Convention of the DFL
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
(Democratic) party, Baker and other LGBT delegates persuaded the Convention to adopt a Party platform
Party platform
A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...
plank supporting equal marriage rights for all adults. This is believed to be the first support for gay marriage by any major United States political party.
Gay adult adoption
In an attempt to obtain legal recognition of their relationship and protect their rights, they sought to have McConnell legally adopt Baker. In August, 1971, this adult adoption was approved in Hennepin County. Under the adoption decree, Baker was given the name Pat Lyn McConnell (though he has not used that name since then, continuing to use his birth name). This is believed to be the first adult adoption between an openly gay couple. After the adoption, the couple discovered that besides inheritance rights, this entitled them to decreased tuition (family resident rates) at the University of MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, where they were both students at the time.
Judicial election candidacy
In 2002, he ran as a candidate for Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He lost to incumbent Paul H. AndersonPaul H. Anderson
Paul H. Anderson is currently an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, taking office on July 1, 1994. He previously served as Chief Judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals from 1992-1994....
. Baker won 30% of the vote, the highest vote total a challenger has ever received.
