Hi Richard,

My apologies! I meant to attend last night. I have no good excuse other than I just forgot and spaced on the time. I was not trying to snub WALRUS. 

We did have our Wikinic on the grounds of the MN State Capitol. I was rather excited to share that event and our Gossipy History Tour of the MN State Capitol afterwards. Both events were well attended and a great success. As I mentioned earlier, since the Wiknic was more of an event than a meeting, we did not discuss the Committee's decision to decline our application. We will likely take it up in August at our online meeting, but I think the consensus is disappointment but willingness to resubmit in 6 months. 

Regarding the comment from the committee member, I was trying to recall what I had said before he made it. If I remember correctly, I was talking about the need to take a long-term approach in community outreach and for an example, I used my work at the Minnesota Historical Society, doing outreach to the rural LGBTQ community in Greater Minnesota, tabling booths at 8-10 Pride festivals every summer. I explained that for the first several years, we did not significantly change the attitudes of rural county historical societies. However, over the last two years, we have seen significant changes, with several historical societies making their community pride festivals debut with their own booths. We have also made sufficient inroads in collecting stories and oral histories from the rural Minnesota LGBTQ community. That is when I believe he said not everyone working on Wikipedia has the same attitude toward the LGBT community. I am hoping I heard him incorrectly. I don't know if you have heard back from anyone but I am worried about the Minnesota Wikimedia Group going back in front of the Affiliate Committee if there is an issue. A transman is one of our group leaders, and we are a very queer positive group. If someone on the Affiliate Committee has an issue with that, I don't think it will go well for us the second time around. 

_Joe