Tolkkinen: Being LGBTQ or a minority in greater Minnesota can be uncomfortable

She and her wife decided to move to Duluth.

“I do think America can do better, be kinder, and talk to each other more,” she wrote. “But in this current environment of hate and small-mindedness, I’m glad I don’t live in Becker/Clear Lake anymore, and that I don’t have to be ‘the only gay in the village’ anymore.”

After the election, I received a message from Brent Nelson of Minneapolis, who grew up in rural central Minnesota and who took exception with my column about why greater Minnesota voted for Donald Trump.

Nelson wrote that he refuses to use the term “greater Minnesota” because it implies that there is something better about rural Minnesota. He felt that the reasons people gave me for voting for Trump such as gun rights and grocery prices were “fake polite” answers intended to disguise their real motives.

“They are bigoted transphobic racists — they are just too cowardly to admit it,” he wrote.

Greater Minnesota is changing. For seven years, I put together the “Santa” letters for the Echo Press in Alexandria, typing in and formatting all the Christmas wishes sent in by local schoolchildren. Last year, I received my first letter in Spanish. I let it run as it was, knowing how much it would mean to that child’s family to see their own language in print. There are also members of the LGBTQ community who live here and aren’t hiding who they are.