In honor of Women's Equality Day, Women Defending Democracy welcomes former Minnesota State Representative Betty Folliard, a longtime advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Betty served in the Minnesota Legislature from 1997 to 2003 and has spent decades working to advance constitutional equality for women. She will provide an update on the status of both the national ERA and the proposed Minnesota ERA, examine the legal and political challenges that have stalled their adoption, and discuss why constitutional protections for gender equality remain as relevant today as ever. LWVMN 2025 Priorities include the ERA here.

Watch recording HERE.

Join us for this special session to honor one year of Women Defending Democracyand our shared commitment to collective action. We are proud of what we have built together and want to take this opportunity to reflect, celebrate, and remind ourselves of the difference we can make when we act together.

For this special session, we are thrilled to welcome Barbara McQuade as our guest speaker. McQuade is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017. She is now a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and cohost of the podcast #SistersInLaw. She is the author of Attack from Within and her latest book: The Fix.

Watch recording HERE.

Pick up Barbara McQuade’s book at your favorite local book store!

Under Threat: Freedom of the Press and the First Amendment

Watch recording HERE.

Featuring Guest Speaker: Jill Burcum, Strib Editorial Board and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Jill will spoke on the growing threats to the free press, as corporate consolidation increasingly affects both local and national newspapers. This trend often prioritizes cost-cutting and profit over public service journalism, leading to newsroom layoffs, reduced investigative reporting, and the hollowing out of once-vital community institutions. As local voices disappear, many regions become “news deserts,” leaving citizens with limited access to reliable, independent reporting. At the same time, national outlets face similar pressures, with consolidation narrowing the diversity of perspectives and raising concerns about editorial independence, as fewer corporate entities control what information reaches the public.

Special guest Kari Hong, Appellate Attorney at Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.

Professor Hong returned to LWVMpls to provide an overview of the rapid expansion of American detention centers as an extension of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the for-profit detention industry.

Watch recording HERE

She examined how this growth reshapes immigration enforcement and will address the potential long-term consequences of detention infrastructure on civil rights, due process, and democratic values.

As part of the LWVMpls Women Defending Democracy (WDD) Initiative, an Advocacy Training session was offered with longtime advocate Kitty Westin. Kitty is the former President of the League of Women Voters of Minneapolis, one of the founders of the Eating Disorders Coalition, and a driving force behind the passage Anna Westin Act (2015). She brings decades of experience in civic engagement and advocacy, and shares our deep commitment to protecting our democratic institutions. In this 60-minute virtual session, Kitty walks us through the fundamentals of effective advocacy—what actions we can take, how to craft messaging that resonates, and what strategies help us make a real impact

Watch recording HERE.