Photo: Simax105, Flickr

Brian Johnson and his family will be allowed to hand out Bibles and preach against homosexuality at the Twin Cities Pride Festival on Saturday and Sunday in Minneapolis’ Loring Park, according to a ruling by district court Judge John Tunheim. Twin Cities Pride sought an injunction to prevent the Johnson’s from handing materials out at the park after the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board decided to allow the Johnson’s. Pride’s injunction was rejected on Friday afternoon.

“The court’s task here is to balance these competing interests to the greatest extent possible–to enable all speakers to exercise their constitutional rights–and then to depend on reasonable and law-abiding people to stay within proper limits,” wrote Tunheim.

He said Johnson’s plans to preach and hand out Bibles were “quintessential activities protected by the First Amendment, so long as he remains undisruptive.”

Last year, Johnson and his wife Lois, were arrested for refusing to leave the park after handing out Bibles. Those charges were later dropped.

Twin Cities Pride Parade, 2008. Photo: Andy Birkey

Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans will gather along Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis Sunday for the Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade. Mayor RT Rybak says the parade is the largest in the city, so it’s no wonder dozens of politicians hit the campaign trail there each year. This weekend four of the five major party candidates for governor will be at Pride, and while one important Republican — Tom Emmer — will be missing, a fellow GOPer is taking the opportunity to show that not all Republicans share views with the religious right.

Candidates for governor will have a high profile at the parade. Democrats Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza have their own spots in the parade, and Margaret Anderson Kelliher will be marching with the Stonewall DFL, which endorsed her at the state Democrats’ convention in April. The campaign of Tom Horner, Independence Party gubernatorial candidate, says they’ll be in the parade as well.

GOP-endorsed candidate Tom Emmer won’t be attending. A campaign spokesman tells the Minnesota Independent he’ll be in Lake City for Lake City Water Ski Days on Sunday.

And though Republicans are generally a rarity at the parade, a GOP-endorsed candidate for House District 60A will proudly be marching this year. Brian Gruber, who is looking to replace Kelliher, says in Minneapolis being a Republican and supporting LGBT rights isn’t that out of the ordinary.

“Most people associate Republicans with the religious right, and while that perception may be true of many of the national and state party leaders, it certainly does not describe myself or a number of the Republicans in Minneapolis,” he told the Minnesota Independent.

He said the pride festival and parade are great events.

“I want to show my support for the LGBT community, and ask for their support as well,” he said. “I have a difficult time understanding why the DFL enjoys such high levels of support from the LGBT community, considering that the DFL has controlled the legislature for the past four years without making any progress on equality issues.”

Brian Gruber, via Facebook

On Monday, Gruber tweeted that he’s “100% behind GLBT equality,” but that stance directly conflicts with the GOP platform (pdf), which is opposed to: a repeal of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy; same-sex marriage and civil unions for LGBT people; and schools teaching or providing resources about — or even discussing — “the topic of family structure, human sexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgenderism.” The GOP’s Emmer is the only candidate for governor opposing gay marriage.

Though Gruber acknowledges he’s taken some flak from some people in the state GOP, he said that locally the party has been supportive.

“I do realize that most people are surprised to see a Republican who supports LGBT equality. The two-party system has had a severe polarizing effect among politicians,” he said. “I am fortunate that the Republicans of Minneapolis were reasonable enough to endorse a candidate who wants to reduce spending and bring careers to Minnesota, while not embracing the traditional conservative social stances.”

On his political philosophy, Gruber says it’s a matter of liberty.

“Each one of us are in the best position to make decisions regarding our personal and private lives,” he said. “The more personal and private a decision, the less the government should be involved.”

He added, “Choosing who you will share your life with is just about as personal a decision as there is.”

Along with Gruber, the Minneapolis City Republican Committee and the Log Cabin Republicans will also be participating in Pride this year.

Other politicians making their mark on the parade with their own contingent are Minneapolis City Council member Diane Hofstede, Mayor Rybak, Hennepin County Commissioners Peter McLaughlin and Gail Dorfman, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, state Sen. Scott Dibble and Minneapolis school board candidate T Williams.

Photo: Simax105, Flickr

Twin Cities Pride and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are locked in a disagreement over whether the Pride Festival, a gathering of nearly 300,000 LGBT people and allies held annually in Loring Park, should be compelled to allow an anti-gay group to distribute Bibles at the event. Festival organizers say they paid ten of thousands of dollars to secure the park for this weekend’s celebration, giving them a right to control the message of the event. The park board has given the OK to Brain and Lois Johnson to distribute the Bibles, saying it is merely standing up for free speech.

“The park board’s decision is akin to allowing the Klu Klux Klan to openly convey their racist and anti-immigration views at the Cinco de Mayo festival,” said Eileen Scallen, an attorney for the Pride Festival and a professor at William Mitchell College of Law.

Pride officials say they will seek a federal injunction Wednesday to prevent the Johnsons from handing out books and anti-gay literature within Loring Park during the festival. They gave the park board until Tuesday evening to reverse the decision to allow the Johnsons in the park.

The Johnsons had put pressure on the park board when they enlisted the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a James Dobson–affiliated religious right legal organization based in Arizona. The group has defended numerous cases of anti-gay protesters crossing legal lines to denounce LGBT people, including a similar case in New York.

In a complaint to the Minneapolis Park Board dated April 5, ADF called Twin Cities Pride a “festival devoted to the toleration of homosexual conduct.”

ADF “demands that… you will allow Mr. Johnson to enter into Loring Park and onto the perimeter sidewalks around the park to distribute literature, display signs and speak during the time of the festival,” the letter stated.

The ADF says that if the park board doesn’t allow Johnson into the park, it will sue. That prompted the park board to acquiesce. It wrote to ADF that it “will not prevent Brian Johnson from entering Loring Park or its perimeter sidewalks on June 26 and June 27, 2010 during the Minneapolis Pride Festival (‘Festival’) to distribute literature, display signs, and speak to members of the public.”

An April 28 letter from the ADF to Johnson said, “You should be able to return to the 2010 festival and exercise your right to free expression.” The letter added that ADF had closed the file and told Johnson, “Keep up the good work sharing the Gospel!”

Pride officials say not only did the Park Board cave, but they waited more than a month to tell them. In a letter to the board, festival organizers said that they were “shocked and dismayed” to learn about the decision relayed to them only weeks before the event.

Organizers argued they’re within their rights to prevent the Johnsons from handing out Bibles, citing the case Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston.

“Ironically, in that case, a Boston parade organizer denied a GLBT group from participating,” Scallen said. “And the Court said a permit holder could do so. The Park Board’s actions on behalf of Mr. Johnson are in clear violation of that US Supreme Court ruling.”

“Mr. Johnson is free to hurl invectives against the GLBT community and their families and distribute Bibles on the public sidewalk opposite Loring Park,” said Amy Slusser, an attorney with the Minneapolis law firm, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi and who is representing Pride. “That is his First Amendment right. He just can’t do so in the park while it is being leased for the Pride Festival.”

The park board doesn’t see it that way. Tuesday night it issued a statement “reaffirming freedom of expression at park events” and rejecting Pride’s ultimatum.

Board chair John Irwin said Minneapolis parks are for everyone. “I happen to wholeheartedly agree with the message of Twin Cities Pride. I’m gay myself. But I also believe in every person’s right to free speech and expression,” he said. “Asking the Minneapolis Park Board to exclude someone from a public space because they have a differing view is a dangerous precedent.”

He added, “I personally think Mr. Johnson is on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the God I know, but I also think he has the absolute right to be wrong.”

But the park board did concede that the Johnsons would not be allowed to hand out Bibles or literature at the festival and the board would not try to force Pride to give Johnson a booth.

In a letter to Pride (pdf), park board counsel Brian Rice said, “[H]e is not entitled to set up a booth or bring boxes of materials into the Festival, nor does he have the right to harass or intimidate attendees. Should he disturb the public, he may be asked to leave and arrested if necessary.”

Johnson and his wife were arrested for trespassing at last year’s festival, but the City of Minneapolis decided not to prosecute the couple.

David Wayne Hill, chairman of Pride last year, said that even paying vendors with booths are not permitted to hand out materials outside the booth area, as Johnson was accused of doing.

“They were advised that they were being prohibited from engaging in such activity on the park grounds and when Mr. Johnson refused to comply, he was arrested by the appropriate authorities,” Hill said.

One of the few ways the festival makes money, he added, is through vendor fees. It wouldn’t be fair, said Hill, “to have people walking through the park marketing themselves when other vendors, in booths or otherwise, pay a fee to do so.”

The event, called “Serving Openly, With Pride,” will also feature Attorney General Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Tom Perez and Jenny Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.

Founded in 1994, DOJ Pride “serves as the recognized organization for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) employees working in the Department of Justice’s offices, boards and divisions.”

Sen. John Marty, who has announced his campaign for governor, had a large presence at the festival and parade. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, widely rumored to be running for governor, was a long way from home on Sunday when he and a contingent of supporters walked in the parade. Sen. Al Franken was also in the parade.

Protesters turned out during the festival and parade warning attendees that they must repent or burn in hell.

There were only a half-dozen protesters who heckled the crowd with a megaphone. At the parade, members of the Superior Police Department managed to isolate them.

International drag star RuPaul entertained thousands at Bayfront Park. She told the crowd to work toward making the next generation an inclusive one for LGBT people.

The person who posted the video to YouTube wrote:

My friend and I were leaving the Gay Pride Festival … and came across a group of Somalian kids who asked my friend if he was gay. When he answered “yes”, they proceeded to harass him and me with verbal threats and even throwing rocks at my friend at one point.

[Via CityPages]

A pair of headlines Thursday morning at the WCCO website made for a stark contrast in the television station’s treatment of LGBT-related stories. On one side, “Twin Cities to Celebrate 37th Gay Pride Fest” and on the other, “Undercover Cops Crack Down on Gay Cruising.”

“Gay cruising” is often a phenomena among men who are closeted and not likely to identify as gay — and not likely to attend this weekend’s Pride activities. In fact, except for the title, the cruising story never mentions the word “gay.” WCCO’s juxtaposition creates an inaccurate impression.

Photo: Simax105, Flickr

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, largely seen around the world as the galvanizing moment for the LGBT rights movement. The Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, were a highly political move, a bold response to police raids of gay bars — including, famously, one at Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn — and the arrests of gay people. At the time, identifying oneself as gay or lesbian was an arrestable offense. The riots sparked marches in cities across the country, which continue today in the form of Pride Parades, a tribute to those riots.

The Twin Cities will host its 37th remembrance of the events at Stonewall with a parade and festival expected to draw more than 400,000 people. After four decades, has Pride lost its political impact and become just a big party focused more on consumerism than civil rights? Or has it evolved into a new tool for the LGBT movement? The Minnesota Independent asked LGBT community leaders: Does Pride still embody political statement that began at the Stonewall riots?

Jeffry Lusiak, artistic director of Outward Spiral Theatre and curator of Queertopia: A Cabaret Celebration of Queer Love:

I think PRIDE had moved away from its radical roots. In the beginning we were marching in the face of a society that refused to recognize us.. in spite of them. Today, we tend to march more for ourselves, in a glossy-safe-happy way. Which way is better? I don’t know. The world is safer for us thanks to our ancestors, but are we making it safer for our children? Are we just ungratefully spinning our wheels, selfishly living in the space cleared for us, or are we living the dream of our predecessors? Time will tell.

What I do know is that there are still fights to be fought and if we have the world’s attention for a weekend we better have something to say.

Monica Meyer, public policy director for OutFront Minnesota, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization:

Forty years ago, Stonewall helped ignite activism throughout the country. While the social context and meaning of Pride has changed since Stonewall, it still plays an important role in the movement for GLBT equality. In OutFront Minnesota’s work with people across the state, we are always reminded of the value of bringing people together who are GLBT and supporters of GLBT equality. As an organizer and an activist, I get excited about the thought of being able to reach out to thousands of GLBT equality supporters to talk politics. I know that is not what everyone is looking for at Pride, but we usually get more than 5000 people to write to their state legislators. For OutFront Minnesota, Pride is an opportunity to engage with people and talk about how we build the movement for equality.

Leigh Combs, LGBT youth advocate and host for KFAI’s Fresh Fruit:

I think it is different for every person. If someone who has not been out and it is their first time at any kind of Pride event – it can feel like a big deal and political.

The biggest change is that Pride events are more about money — it’s a business-the GLBTQ community being seen as a group to be marketed to. Whenever a movement becomes a business there are all kinds of added issues. We may not have all the rights, but many people in the GLBTQ community have a lot of privilege and we often forget about those that may not. I would say we get comfortable and complacent and forget to fight for ourselves and others. For many Pride is one big party. In my opinion The Lesbian Avengers and the people that bring the Trans March are the closest to a political statement as we get.

Doug Benson, founder of Marry Me Minnesota, an organization working through the legal process for marriage equality:

Pride is still important. When enough people to populate a medium sized city come to a park to join people they share a human characteristic with, it’s inherently political and powerful. It’s also yummy, sexy and smelly.

Laura Smidzik, executive director of Project 515:

Personally, I think Pride is much different, but in a very positive way. I can only assume that when it began, the discussions and actions surrounding Pride were more heated and controversial and Pride was considered as something that was a spectacle; something only GLBT people would participate in.

But Pride has evolved and has changed with societal context. It is much more family oriented because a lot of GLBT people are free to be more open about having and raising children. Advocacy is a visible part of Pride and is more focused on equal rights and improving quality of life vs. simply being recognized as “normal.” Businesses, both corporate and smaller businesses, see the advantage of reaching out to the GLBT community for increased customer and employment loyalty.

I think Pride is a very visual representation of real life for our community and throughout the years has provided a historical lens through which one could view GLBT status in the world. We’re much more accepted and so Pride is more accepted. The rainbow flags which adorn Hennepin Avenue prior to Pride is an example of greater recognition. Families are participating. Straight people are celebrating along with their GLBT friends and family members.

Jerry W of the Revolting Queers, a radical queer collective “bent on changing the current political social landscape of the Twin Cities”:

Stonewall was a riot, an eruption of the most marginalized elements of the gay community, now it’s just a watered down festival. These riots were followed by a series of marches which morphed into what is now know as Pride. Christopher Street Liberation Day and there first march was exactly that, a march, not a parade. It was political and it was intense. Now there is nearly nothing political in the current pride parade. There are giant burritos selling Chipotle, or a giant needle advertising botox, and scores of politicians that will sell queers down the river whenever they get the chance.

Several hundred LGBT Minnesotans arrived for food and live music at the VFW hall at Voyageur Park in the north end of town. The theme, “We Are Family,” was a nod to the notion that LGBT people are part of the fabric of the larger Pine City community.

“A family is not only one of inclusion, but of values of hard work, respect for others, love and commitment, along with a sense of belonging to the greater community of East Central Minnesota,” said Don Quaintance one of the picnic organizers.

The event, Pine City Pride, is one of only two known rural LGBT pride events in the country, serving as an important networking and community-building opportunity for LGBT people living in rural Minnesota.

This year same-sex marriage was the hot topic as four states, including Iowa to the south, have made same-sex marriage legal. OutFront Minnesota was at the picnic providing education on — and gathering support for — a campaign to bring marriage equality to Minnesota within the next three years, by which time the state will have a new governor; only days earlier Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had stymied many efforts to pass LGBT legislation, announced he would not be running again.

“There’s going to be a lot of changes in Minnesota,” said Sen. Rick Olseen, a DFLer who represents the district. “It’s time to be really active and support a governor that supports equality.”

An early-announced candidate to replace Pawlenty on the DFL ticket, Sen. John Marty gave a rousing speech.

Marty said he’s fighting for full marriage rights for same-sex couples, and nothing less — such as civil unions — would be acceptable.

“I don’t care what [Rep.] Michele Bachmann and her ilk like to call it. We call it gay marriage,” said Marty. “I don’t want to tell anyone else what to call their relationship… A same-sex marriage is not hurting anybody else. And that’s one of the reasons I’m running for governor.”

He added that it took “hateful people like Michele Bachmann” to rally Minnesotans against the LGBT community.

Only four blocks away in Robinson Park, a “pro-family picnic” was being held in response to Pine City Pride.

“The GLBT picnic is being brought in by groups from around the state. If you go to their Facebook group, you can find people asking to be bused in from Minneapolis,” said Abe Mach, pro-family picnic organizer and director of the Pine City Republicans. “These aren’t the values of our community, and we want to make that clear. We do not want to this to become the defining event of our city.”

Mach said on a Facebook page for the event that he sees the LGBT picnic as an assault on Pine City families.

“The attack on traditional family values is coming from radical homosexuals desiring to introduce their lifestyle to kids in order present an alternative to the natural heterosexual lifestyles they are born into,” he told critics. “We simply want to be able to protect our children and families from what we believe to be a negative influence.”

Despite the invective, the pro-family picnic was a subdued affair. Children sang gospel songs and at least one politician spoke.

Rudy Takala, a Republican running for the State House district around Pine City, urged attendees to send letters to their elected officials opposing rights for same-sex couples.

“We can make them fear this time of year if we send them letters,” he said.

A lone pro-family activist made his way over to the LGBT event. He wielded a large sign that read, “Where will you spend eternity? With God or Satan?” and shouted Bible verses at the crowd.

Sen. Marty acknowledged the detractors.

“We aren’t going to allow their hate to ruin our day. This is the pro-family picnic, not the one on the other side,” he said. “I’m glad to stand with you on this bitterly cold June day. It’s a cold day, but there are a lot of warm hearts. Thanks you for standing up for your community in Pine City.”