Minnesota Men of Color

Minnesota Men of Color (MMC) was a non-profit organization that served gay and bisexual men of color, women of color, and gender-non-conforming people of color between 1998 and 2003. From its headquarters in Minneapolis, MMC reached clients that majority-white LGBTQ groups had overlooked, focusing specifically on those who were Native, Latinx, African American, and Asian American.

MMC began as a social group for queer men of color. Nick Metcalf (Čhetáŋzi; Yellow Hawk), a Sičáŋǧu Lakota student from South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation, had moved to Minnesota in 1994. There, Metcalf became involved in the Minnesota American Indian AIDS Task Force at its south Minneapolis headquarters. Metcalf identified as a two-spirit—a person with a non- or cross-binary gender identity who plays a crucial spiritual role in some Native traditions.

By April 1997, Metcalf had met Edd Lee, a gay Korean American man working for the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans. The pair recognized the demand for an organization tailored to the needs of people of color in the Twin Cities. Together, they organized MMC’s first meetings, which were informal.

In 1998, in one of its earliest projects, MMC surveyed residents across Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. It found that 160,000 Twin Cities residents identified as gay or lesbian; of those, about 33,000—20 percent—were people of color. (“Bisexual,” “transgender,” “genderqueer,” etc. did not appear as answer options.) The survey’s results confirmed MMC volunteers’ belief that their target population was growing and in need.

MMC applied for tax-exempt status from the IRS as a non-profit 501.c3 organization and received it in March 1999. At about this time, they hired a handful of paid staff and moved into an office space at 1433 East Franklin Avenue in the Philips neighborhood of Minneapolis—an address they shared with the Minnesota American Indian AIDS Task Force. MMC staff crafted a mission statement that expressed their commitment to social service, education, and empowerment.

When MMC received formal recognition as a non-profit, its flagship programs—Somos Familias and Ikĉé Wiĉáŝa—had already been active for two years. Their non-English names (in Spanish and Lakota, respectively) reflected MMC’s intention to support people of color whose languages, ethnicities, and cultures were underrepresented by the white mainstream.

Somos Familias (We Are Families) reached out to people living with HIV/AIDS by offering a bi-monthly educational series; a bi-monthly discussion group; a peer helper network; and a drop-in support group. MMC staff created an original Somos Familias curriculum, designed for classes of no more than eight people, that covered disease management, spiritual health, and medication adherence.

Ikĉé Wiĉáŝa (Common Man) focused on HIV and STD prevention. With some components targeted at groups and others at individuals, the program followed a curriculum of its own that addressed coming out, intersectional identities, safer sex, body image, and drug abuse.

Contrary to its name, MMC employed and served people who identified as women—both cisgender and transgender. Its staff collaborated with the Womyn of Color Building Project, and the two organizations shared office space on Franklin Avenue. An MMC-organized social group called Gender Girls welcomed members who had been assigned a male sex at birth but rejected masculine gender norms. They included trans women, drag queens, cross-dressing men, and genderqueer people.

Between 2001 and 2003, MMC continued to create programs and build partnerships with other LGBTQ groups, from the local (Twin Cities Black Pride) to the national (LLEGÓ, an LGBTQ Latinx organization). In early 2003, it moved from its Philips office to a space inside the Sabathani Community Center at 310 East 38th Street.

Soon after the move, the Minnesota Department of Health cancelled its 2003–2005 funding contract with MMC. The Office of the Legislative Auditor reviewed MMC’s management of grant funds received between 1999 and 2003 and concluded that it had not complied with rules related to accounting, staffing, and oversight.

Without its primary source of funding, MMC could no longer afford to operate and scaled back its projects. After a period of inactivity, it officially disbanded in 2009.