To raise awareness of anti-gay bias, members of the LGBT community are planning a “Big Gay Kiss on the Mall” on July 23. The kiss-in by same-sex couples at Peavey Plaza is a direct response to the harassment seen in the video, according to organizers.

Gubernatorial candidate and former Sen. Mark Dayton denounced the youths’ actions and promised that dealing with harassment would be part of his campaign:

A recent YouTube video shows a group of youths harassing a gay man at last Sunday’s Pride parade. I deplore their immoral and illegal actions. It is also extremely disturbing that the video shows a security officer walking by the harassment and doing nothing to stop it.

There is no place in Minnesota for that kind of immoral and illegal behavior. If I become Governor, I pledge to do everything within my power to stop it.

A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department said that the uniformed individuals in the video were not Minneapolis officers.

Currently, there is a video on YouTube of an incident that occurred sometime during the Minneapolis Gay Pride Festival. There has been some speculation that Minneapolis Police Officers were in that video. The Minneapolis Police Department wants to assure the public that those security officers who casually walk by during this incident were not from our department. We have a strict uniform policy and those were not our uniforms or our police officers. This is unacceptable behavior that would not be tolerated by the Minneapolis Police. Action would have been taken immediately to stop the harassment that is depicted in the video.

OutFront Minnesota said that the incident should not be an excuse for anger at people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds:

A video appearing on YouTube depicts verbal harassment of Twin Cities Pride attendees by a small group of young people. OutFront Minnesota decries all hate- or bias-motivated violence and harassment, regardless of who is targeted; we are glad the targets were not physically harmed. This particular incident adds a level of controversy because the perpetrators and targets appear to be of different racial backgrounds. As we have seen in the wake of the Prop. 8 vote in California, racism exists within the GLBT community and can rise to the surface at difficult times. It’s critical to remember that judging a person’s actions is different from judging their presumed background. OutFront Minnesota remains committed to helping address racism within the GLBT community, and to being a strong advocate for GLBT community members from ALL racial or ethnic backgrounds.

Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center told FOX 9 News that some in the Somali community think Schreifels set the boys up: “Some of the community believe this is a frame-up where the gay guy provoked the Somali boys while his friend video taped them.”

Schreifels sent a letter to Jamal clarifying what happened:

I am insulted by your response, and by those in your community who would imply the ridiculous possibility that this was a frame-up. It does nothing to gain favor of a community that has represented themselves poorly to the gay community already. We haven’t forgotten the gays being kicked out of cabs by Somali cab drivers. Furthermore, it shifts the responsibility for this behavior onto me and my friend, rather than on the ignorant teenagers who were shouting these hateful words, which were most likely learned by their parents, or religious leaders. This is unacceptable. The notion that somehow they may have been provoked or framed needs to be put to rest immediately.

Demanding these kids be held accountable would send a sign that your words of condemnation are not merely words, but a sign of intolerance for this kind of behavior. Anything less than this response simply sends the message that the actions of these young boys are acceptable in your eyes.

Schreifels released this video over the weekend responding to the debate caused by the harassment:

Justin Grey Day, the video’s author, also called for calm in response to racist sentiments emerging in the aftermath:

Mahamoud Wardere (in red) talks to a voter at Brian Coyle Center

Last night Omar Jamal, head of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, told KSTP news that as many as 500 people were either persuaded or misled to vote for Al Franken at the Brian Coyle Center on Tuesday. As the Minnesota Independent reported on Tuesday, witnesses at the Brian Coyle Center told me and another reporter on site, Juila Nekessa Opoti, who writes for the Twin Cities Daily Planet and M’shale, a local African community newspaper, that voters were being persuaded to vote for Norm Coleman. What’s more, a Coleman staffer named Mahamoud Wardere was on hand throughout most of the day acting as at one point a GOP challenger and at another a translator.

As reported earlier, Wardere, who admitted he was uncertain of his role, was asked to leave the gymnasium where votes were being cast. Instead, he remained on site talking to voters in the foyer, at the entrance, and in a room adjacent to the gymnasium. He repeatedly claimed he was not working for Coleman, and he was on “vacation” that day. Yet Friday night’s KSTP report says that, “after people started complaining about Franken supporters, calls were made to the Coleman campaign. At which time a Coleman campaign worker allegedly showed up at the polling place.”

This begs the question: Why was Norm Coleman’s campaign contacted if there were alleged problems with voter persuasion? Who contacted them, instead of an election judge or the Secretary of State’s office, to investigate?  And what exactly was Wardere’s role at the Center if he was working as a translator and for Norm Coleman, as the KSTP report alleges? He repeatedly told MnIndy that he was not working for Coleman and, in fact, refused to reveal his name until I confronted him after learning it.

The KSTP report also raises serious questions about the number of voters who were persuaded to vote for Franken. Jamal tells KSTP that as many as 500 people who could have been led to vote for Franken. Yet Jamal told the same station only two days ago that complaints were coming from voters who say that translators were persuading people to vote for Franken and Coleman. He claimed that Franken and Coleman workers were, according to KSTP, trying to illegally influence a “few dozen” Somali voters. Suddenly that number has leapt to 500, and Jamal now says they were all persuaded by translators to vote for Franken.

The Brian Coyle Center is in the 2nd Ward, Precinct 10, and according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, the voter tallies are as follows: Obama 938, McCain 122; Franken 854, Coleman 161. There were 39 “ticket splitters” for Coleman, not a stunning anomaly, yet Jamal is claiming as many as 500 of those votes for Franken were possible persuasions. What’s more, because of Jamal’s new claims, SoS Mark Ritchie has said he will “hold off” on counting those votes until after an investigation by the Hennepin County Attorney’s office. Any dismissal of the votes will no doubt favor Coleman.

Opoti made a call to Jamal this afternoon to verify his claim and ensure that KSTP had reported the number correctly. She says Jamal told her that “more or less than 500 voters” were persuaded by translators to vote for Franken. She asked Jamal about the witnesses who told her and MnIndy that translators on site were pressuring people to vote for Coleman. Opoti says Jamal has now dismissed those complaints. “There is no evidence of that,” he told her. “Those people were lying.”

Opoti, a Kenyan immigrant, says the outright dismissal of the claims she encountered firsthand is infuriating. “It doesn’t matter who wins, Franken or Coleman. What matters is that these people were being disenfranchised. I talked to so many people who were so excited to vote, to be a part of this democracy. Their votes should count. It disgusts me that it’s come to this.”

Related: Somali voter influence claims raise more questions than answers