Minnesota LGBTQ+ advocacy group issues travel warning for North Dakota

FARGO — Local and national organizations are issuing a warning to people in the LGBTQ+ community if they plan to travel to North Dakota. The nearby states of South Dakota and Iowa are also among the 22 states included in the warning.

Executive Director of OutFront Minnesota Kat Rohn, the organization issuing the informal guidelines, said they’ve issued these types of warnings in the past, but that new laws across the country have made doing so now even more important.

The many recently-passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws in North Dakota, including bathroom restrictions for transgender people and banning gender affirming care for minors, have led to the state being flagged by OutFront and the national advocacy group Human Right Campaign as being hostile to the LGBTQ+ community.

Rohn said that while the laws themselves, especially the bathroom ban, are directly harmful to LGBTQ+ individuals, it’s more about the quantity of passed bills signaling anti-LGBTQ sentiment across the board in the state.

The advisories from OutFront include not traveling alone, being aware of legal rights and resources should they face harassment, and remaining vigilant while in the state.

When it comes to places like the Fargo-Moorhead area, where people frequently make stops in both states, Rohn said the differing rules in each states makes for a complicated and frustrating landscape for the LGBTQ+ community because of the inconsistency in regulations.

“(It) creates a sense of instability for folks, of not knowing, even when they have access to things, what your rights are, what your access is to things, where are you safe. And I think that is the real danger of this,” Rohn said.

When it comes to LGBTQ+ individuals continuing to live in North Dakota despite these laws, Rohn encourages them to not give up on engaging in local politics, and advocating for better policies.