Meet the professional lesbian who taught Walz the joy of politics

In 1977, what is now referred to as the Jim Chalgren LGBT Center was founded at Minnesota State University, Mankato. At the time it was the only the second center of its kind, and was initially known as the Gay Advisors Office. It was later renamed the Alternative Lifestyles Center before going through several more name changes.

Chalgren headed the center before he left Mankato in 1987 for the Twin Cities following a heated but failed fight to pass a non-discrimination ordinance in Mankato. After that the center was run by a rotating array of graduate assistants until 2003, when students led by Jess Crary, held a sit-in to advocate for MSU to hire a full-time director.

In 2004 Jessica Flatequal was hired to serve as the LGBTQ center’s first full-time director, a position she held until her death in 2019. Thanks to her fierce advocacy for the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups, her legacy lives on. On Sept. 7, the Mankato Pride Jessica Flatequal Parade will be held in Mankato.

Flatequal also worked closely with Tim Walz — Minnesota’s governor and current democratic nominee for vice president —  during his early political days running for U.S. Congress.

Walz himself has admitted that Flatequal had a huge impact on him both personally and politically.

Flatequal, who was also involved with organizing Mankato’s Pridefest, invited Walz to one of Mankato’s early official Pridefests, an act Walz remembered as being critical to the development of his political career.

“To everyone who would walk by, Jessica would say ‘Come here, come here, come here — meet our next congressman, he’s for a lot of good things, and marriage equality… meet our next congressman, he’s for a lot of good things and marriage equality.’” And I remember thinking: She believes in us more than we do right now. I said, ‘We better work a little harder here, we better do a little more. Because the expectation — and you could always get it out of Jessica — was if it’s the right thing to do, why would you not do it? And if it’s the right thing to do, why would you not put your whole soul into doing it? And if it’s the right thing to do, why would you not do it with joy? That impacted me,” Walz told Today Magazine.

Just about everybody who knew Flatequal would describe her as a fierce and passionate advocate for social justice. While she obviously cared deeply about and advocated tirelessly for LGBTQ equality, she also advocated for a variety of social justice causes. For example, woe to anyone who parked in a disabled spot without a proper placard outside the LGBT center while she served as director.

My own memories of Jessica Flatequal are of someone who was more than just an advocate. She was also a nerd who kept a row of pop culture bobbleheads that included characters from “The Walking Dead” and “Star Wars” in her office in the LGBT center. She was also a painter whose works could reliably be found in LGBTQ related art showings in Mankato.

But I also remember a person for whom promoting joy was also important.

Anyone who knew her will remember her bright, colorful bow ties and infectious grin.

In Today Magazine, Gregory Todd Wilkins shares a story about seeing an American Flag flying in Riverfront Park at the beginning of the first pridefest to be held in Riverfront park and asking Flatequal if they should ask permission to fly the Pride Flag underneath.

”Jessica didn’t skip a beat and explained, ‘Do it and ask for forgiveness later.’ We climbed through the bushes, unwrapped the cord from the pole, and hoisted up the pride flag. Every year since, the pride and American flag have waved in glory celebrating everyone to Mankato. It is a reminder that no one is free until all are free,” Wilkins told Today Magazine.

A long time ago, gay used to be synonymous with joy or happiness. It makes sense, then, that Flatequal would understand the importance of having joy when working for social justice.

Walz and Kamala Harris have made the idea of joy a key theme of their campaign, so much so that they were criticized in a New York Times article headlined “Joy is not a strategy.”

Pride is a deadly sin (according to Dante) and joy is not a strategy (or so the New York Times has argued) but pride and joy are most definitely important tools in the march toward a just world.

Let us not then forget that Jessica Flatequal  — professional lesbian extraordinaire — was the one who helped Walz see the importance of joy as a political strategy.

Write to Jeremy.redlien@gmail.com