North Dakota Democratic-NPL State Delegate Selection Meeting Stump Speech

Good afternoon, friends and fellow Dem-NPLers! What an exciting day and event for us Democrats of North Dakota!
My name is Kevin Tengesdal from here in Bismarck. I grew up on a farm in Bottineau County, north of Minot. I am a US Navy Veteran. I received my Bachelors degree from Columbia International University in South Carolina, with a year of study in Jerusalem in the late ’90s.

I have lived here in Bismarck since 2003, working in good standing as a graphic designer at The Printers, Inc., a union-label company. If I have not worked directly with some of you in this room on your own campaigns, I hope the rest of you have seen some of my work in your mailboxes during election years. I have been quite active with the local community theatre and arts, with the LGBT community, and with supporting local and state progressive politics for many years.

My participation in seeking progressive reforms did not start here today. From life experiences learned, over the past decade, I have become an advocate and activist, starting first with a simple letter to the editor in 2004 fighting the Marriage Amendment passed in North Dakota. Many more letters have come since then. My activism has included volunteering for campaigns at many different levels. I have actively been a part of efforts to pass progressive policies by testifying before the North Dakota Legislature. I am currently serving as a board member with the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, helping form an LGBT nondiscrimination roundtable here in Bismarck, and keeping these reforming concerns forefront with online forums. Those are not easy battles here in our conservative capital city, or much of North Dakota, but they definitely are battles worth having.

As a gay Christian Democrat, I am asking you, my friends and allies of the LGBT community, for your vote to represent not just our gay community, but Dem-NPLers of all colors, religions, and sexualities from our great state at the Democratic National Convention. Quite often, policy makers do not hear, or choose to ignore, the LGBT voice from within rural America. In over a dozen states, including North Dakota, the LGBT population lives under the threat of employers firing them in the workplace, landlords evicting from or denying housing, or they can be denied public accommodations, simply for being who they are. Progressive reform can be made at the Federal level through policies and platforms.

I will also be campaigning for Senator Bernie Sanders as he has solid dedication, policies, and support for the farmers, for the Native Americans, for us in the LGBT community, and for anyone else who would otherwise feel ignored.

Thank you for your consideration and vote. I purpose to serve you well in Philadelphia. Let us go show the nation how great and how important North Dakota is in the process of electing our next President of the United States of America, and in shaping forward-thinking policies