http://www.gaymilitarysignal.com/0802Nichols.html
After leaving the Army, Angela Nichols got a BA Degree in German and International Studies at Winona State University, and a Masters of Education Degree at the University of Wisconsin, at LaCrosse, majoring in College Student Personnel. She was an Americorps assistant director of the Gay Alliance for LaCrosse area youth. Later, during post graduate work at Oberlin College, she was an intern GLBT Community Coordinator. She then returned home to Minneapolis to care for her grandfather in his last year.
Since 2000, she has been the Director of Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Services at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. She married her partner, Elizabeth Olson, in Canada in 2004.
November 17, the masses marched from the UW-Superior campus to the grassy noel of the Superior Public Library concluding the events with a rally. Speakers included members of the Queer and Allied Student Union of UW-Superior; UWS Student Senate President, Rob Schimke; faculty and staff from local universities; and local LGBT activists. Bob Kosuth, MC of the march and rally, spoke eloquently about how we can and will change this narrow definition of legal marriage. We have before and we will again. For example, he would have been unable to marry his Asian partner had laws preventing interracial marriage not been overturned. ANGIE NICOLS and her partner BETH OLSON were among the couples who spoke up. As THEIR DAUGHTER hugged her, ANGIE summed up the message of the events by saying that it is up to us to change things – not politicians.
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Check out the curriculum. Boy, I'd sure like to sign up for that class:
Tuesday, April 8:
Same-Sex Marriage, Law, Policy Comparisons and Immigration/Adoption Issues Film: “Tying the Knot” (2004) 83 min.
Speakers: Angie Nichols/Beth Olson & Nicki and Alisha and their two boys Sam (4)and Ben (1) Blazevik Seibert Reading Assignment: Duberman: As assigned In Class:
Adoption Policy Discussion ------------------------------
MODERN MARRIAGE PANEL DISCUSSION
A panel discussion on “Gay Marriage and the Modern American Family” will be presented at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14 in 120 Solon Campus Center. Participants will include: Earl Austin, Northland Gay Men’s Center; Larry Knopp, UMD Geography Department; Ashley Lundstrom, UMD Student; Bruce Mork, UMD Sociology-Anthropology Department; BETH OLSON, Gay Parent; and Tom Powers, Department of Political Science as Moderator. The event is sponsored by the UMD Diversity Commission and UMD GLBT Services. For more information contact Tom Powers, tpowers@d.umn.edu, at 726-8697. --------------------------------------
Bush in Duluth drew two Catholic Workers into the path of his motorcade, bearing a banner reading "The Poor Can't Eat Your Weapons." The judge dismissed the charges of "obstructing the legal process" because the state failed to prove aggressive behavior, a necessary element of the crime.Michael Larson interrupted Bush's speech by shouting "Shame!", and pled not guilty to disorderly conduct. He will stand trial October 21, alongside BETH OLSON and Angela Nichols, gay rights advocates arrested at the door as they tried to enter.
Scroll down to Great Trip North Part II –
Superior” On Sunday, we met Action Wisconsin board members, Angie Nichols and BETH OLSON, before the training. Bob Jansen, the owner of The Main Club, one of Superior’s two gay bars, and John Ludwig, a father of a lesbian daughter, joined us. Bob opened the bar in 1983 and has long been a vocal and brave voice for gay visibility in Duluth-Superior. The Main Club might be the oldest gay bar in the state. We visited it later that night, and it’s clear that Bob has made it not just a place for people to drink--but also a community. Everyone seems to be welcomed into the bar, and there are bulletin boards with community event listings and clippings from area newspaper coverage of LGBT issues.
Angie and BETH GOT MARRIED LAST YEAR IN CANADA. They speak eloquently about what it felt like to travel just a few hours north and have a marriage that is not only legally, but also socially, acknowledged. A Canadian woman congratulated them, but then asked why they traveled to Canada to get married. The woman was incredulous when Beth explained that the United States prohibits equal marriage for gay people. (This was before the shining exception of Massachusetts.) Beth says she experienced true freedom to have such basic respect for her family. It’s amazing to realize the same thing must be happening in Massachusetts where people are beginning to assume that equality is the everyday order of things.
John, Bob, Angie, and BETH helped us identify community leaders and organizations that might speak out publicly against the amendment, and we shared more details about Action Wisconsin and the campaign. Interestingly, they told us that the Superior police department has liaisons to the LGBT community and is generally solid on LGBT issues. The Superior mayor is no friend of basic equality for LGBT people. But area lawmakers, state Senator Bob Jauch, and Rep. Frank Boyle, are solidly opposed to the constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage.
Our Family Stories Our family is your family. Your coworkers. Yours sons and daughters. Your parents. Your friends. Your family!
Check this section throughout the year to read real, touching portraits about members of your community--members of your family.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 28, 2005
Mom Times Two
BY SCOTT THISTLE
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sage Olson bursts through the back door and scampers across the kitchen into the living room. She launches from the carpet into the arms of her waiting mom, sitting on the couch.
The family dog, Lucky Boy, jumps up, licking both on the face, and a pair of cats compete for affection, rubbing themselves on pants legs while purring.
Sage and her mom kiss, cuddle and exchange greetings. After all, Sage, 7, hasn't seen her mom, Angie Nichols, since morning -- when Nichols left for work.
But when Sage calls for mom, two women often answer.
"If she yells 'Mom' and one of us answers, and it's the wrong one, she says, 'No, the other one,' " said Beth Olson, Sage's birth mom.
"Sometimes we can just tell by the inclination of her voice which one of us she wants," said Nichols, Olson's partner.
Olson, Nichols and Sage are the kind of nontraditional family that this year's Duluth-Superior
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Allied Pride Festival hopes to highlight. The festival's "We Are Family" theme this year puts emphasis not only on the GLBT community's sense of solidarity but also on the broader definition of family.
"What is a family, really?" Nichols asked. "A family really is about love, and if you have love and concern for each other, then you have a really good family that you can be proud of."
As in most families, time is a precious commodity -- so as Nichols continues a conversation with a visitor, Olson fixes Sage a quick bite to eat. The family is again running late for Sage's weekly soccer match.
Sage's dad, who was divorced from Beth Olson three years ago, is also actively involved in his daughter's life. He, too, will be at the game to watch Sage run up and down the field.
Married a year ago Saturday in Ontario, Olson and Nichols say they felt compelled to exchange formal vows to solidify their commitments to each other and to Sage.
Both Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia legally recognize same-sex marriages. The Superior couple also had a church wedding at Duluth's Peace United Church of Christ.
Nichols and Olson are also activists in the ongoing debate over the definition of marriage. Both are board members with Action Wisconsin, a GLBT group organizing to defeat efforts to amend Wisconsin's constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.
NORMAL FAMILY LIFE
In many ways, the couple's family life is like any other Twin Ports couple raising a child. Both work at professional careers. Both share in Sage's daily care and both work at maintaining their home.
Daily activities at home include all the things other families do every day. From tooth-brushing to mealtimes to going to Sage's soccer games, what happens in their life would be a familiar routine.
"We operate in the community just the same as any other family, except for that every time we go somewhere, we know that people are going to figure it out," Beth Olson said.
Figure out that she and Angie "are not sisters," as she puts it. "They are going to discover, and then how are they going to treat us? How are they going to treat Sage?"
It's a fear and a frustration for the couple. On top of that is the time they spend fighting to protect their rights, standing up for what they believe in and helping to educate others.
"At the end of the day, we say to ourselves, 'What would it be like if we didn't have to fight for this stuff?' " Nichols said.
"We would have a lot of free time. We would have a lot more time to spend with Sage. We could just do things that are relaxing and free our mind, and have more time and money to put into our life that we want to have like everybody else has." Overhearing Nichols, Sage echoes her, enjoying the attention: "Yeah, more time for me. Me, me, me.
" To some degree, the couple is also hesitant to bare their lives for public consumption in articles like this. They want Sage to know she is special and her parents are special, but they wonder how that is much different than most families.
ACTIVIST CONCERNS
Beyond being the only same-sex couple they know of in their part of town, Olson and Nichols are political activists. The two were arrested in 2004 protesting President Bush's visit to Duluth.
"Sometimes you have to make decisions that are personal and based on -- hopefully, a greater good," Nichols said.
Those feelings aren't uncommon for activist gay or lesbian couples trying to raise children, said Tony Sheehan, board president of Action Wisconsin.
"In smaller communities, and particularly in places removed from larger cities where people interact on a more regular basis with quote-unquote nontraditional families, there are some hardships that these people have to deal with on a day-to-day basis," said Sheehan, who raised children with his male partner more than a decade ago.
He shuns the term "nontraditional," asking, "What is 'traditional' in America these days?"
Still, going against social convention is tough.
"It wears on people; I know it does," Sheehan said. "They are constantly having to answer questions or talk about why their family is just as important as traditional families.
" The growing number of gay and lesbian couples raising families has inspired the phrase "gayby boom" in GLBT circles. Often, same-sex couples are adopting children with health or developmental problems, including AIDS and other serious illnesses, Sheehan said.
The trend counters the insistence by some Christian activists that marriage can only be between a man and a woman and that its main purpose is the creation of children. But child-rearing is a natural desire for many human beings -- gay, lesbian or heterosexual, Sheehan said.
SEEKING ACCEPTANCE
Couples like Nichols and Olson -- who raise a child together and fight for the rights of themselves and others -- deserve acceptance and respect, Sheehan said.
His admiration is echoed by Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson.
Bergson made history in 2004 as the first Duluth mayor to sign a proclamation welcoming the Pride Festival to Duluth. He also took tremendous criticism, including hate e-mails and threatening phone calls to his office and home, he said.
Still, Bergson stands by the decision and this year will welcome the GLBT community to his city during a reception next weekend.
"Back in the '50s and '60s, it was about the color of the skin. And today it's about sexual orientation," Bergson said recently. "I suspect in 30 years it will be something else."
Nichols said she hopes equal rights for GLBT individuals won't take 30 years, but she acknowledges it could.
She and Beth Olson recognize there are many people who don't see things the way they do. Nichols asks those people to try -- even if just for a moment -- to see life from their perspective.
"What most people don't realize is we are in the midst of our civil rights movement," Nichols said. "We are in the midst of a marriage movement where amendments are being proposed that will further entrench discrimination against our families.
"These are real families, too."
http://www.d.umn.edu/~anichols/ The other mommy.
SIX ARRESTED DURING RALLYDuluth News-Tribune (MN) - Thursday, July 15, 2004Author: News TribuneSix people were arrested in connection with President Bush's rally Tuesday at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Arena, Duluth police said.
Peace activist Joel Kilgour, 27, and Rachel Anne Johnson, 18, of the Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker community -- which maintains three houses for the homeless and others in need in Duluth -- were charged with obstructing the legal process for refusing to get out of Harbor Drive.
Kilgour and Johnson were arrested near the Great Lakes Aquarium. According to the police arrest log, the protesters eventually walked to a squad car and were cooperative.
Angela Nichols , 33, and Elizabeth Olson, 34, were cited for disorderly conduct for illegally trying to get into the DECC, Duluth police Lt. Tim Hanson said. Jesse Peterson, 23, was cited for obstructing the legal process and disorderly conduct for helping the women try to get into the DECC, Hanson said. Addresses for the trio were unavailable.
A 17-year-old boy from Bemidji, Minn., was cited for obstructing the legal process.
Cindy Stratioti, a chief deputy St. Louis County court administrator, said formal charges had not yet been filed Wednesday.
Pictured above the winner of the DCB Lifetime Blogging Achievement Award, "Her Majesty C Queen of the Blogosphere" 
