Twin Cities Pride

Pride Festival organizers disappointed by Federal Court order sustaining Park Board’s permission for anti-gay activist to freely distribute materials on Pride Festival grounds

MINNEAPOLIS — A Federal judge has denied a request by Pride Festival organizers to prohibit an anti-gay activist from disseminating flyers, Bibles and other materials on leased Minneapolis Park Board property in Loring Park this weekend.

In response to a request for an emergency order from Pride Festival organizers, US District Court Judge John Tunheim said the Park Board did not violate a 1995 US Supreme Court ruling by granting permission to avowed homosexual critic Brian Johnson of Hayward, Wisc., to disseminate written materials that support his message of sin and repentance — views that contradict Pride’s mission of celebration — on leased festival grounds.

“Twin Cities Pride’s request for injunctive relief presents the Court with the challenge of attempting to reconcile Twin Cities Pride’s and Johnson’s competing First Amendment rights,” Judge Tunheim wrote in his 19-page opinion. “The Court concludes that Twin Cities Pride may not restrict Johnson’s exercise of First Amendment rights to hand out written literature or display certain signage.”

But Judge Tunheim sounded a cautionary note: “If Johnson or another attendee’s exercise of First Amendment rights affect traffic flow or attendee safety — i.e., by setting up a quasi-“booth” in which other visitors stop and slow crowd movement; by carrying boxes of literature or objects so large that they impact crowd movement; by speaking with amplification or otherwise speaking so loudly that the speech is disruptive to other attendees; or by displaying signage that is so cumbersome as to impede the orderly flow of foot traffic — the Court trusts that MPRB police and other security will be well-prepared to address those issues and stop any disruption.”

Attorneys for Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender Pride/Twin Cities, organizers of the annual two-day Pride Festival, expressed disappointment in Judge Tunheim’s decision but will faithfully follow his order, they said.

“As long as Mr. Johnson and his family do not create a disturbance, they can walk the Festival and distribute their leaflets and Bibles to willing attendees,” said Eileen Scallen, a professor of law at the William Mitchell College of Law and co-counsel to the Pride Festival. “But should their behavior be as troubling as it was at last year’s festival, we shall ask Minneapolis Police to remove them.”

Pride’s case was presented to the Federal Court by Amy Slusser of the Minneapolis law firm, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P.

Despite the decision, Scallen and Slusser praised Judge Tunheim’s rapid engagement on this issue. They had submitted legal documents requesting the emergency order Wednesday afternoon and Judge Tunheim promptly agreed to hear arguments from Pride and the Park Board about 18 hours later.

Celebrating its 38th year in 2010, GLBT Pride/Twin Cities, the organizer of the Twin Cities Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender (GLBT) Pride Celebration, began in 1972 with a small group of activists meeting for a picnic in Minneapolis’ Loring Park and a short march down Nicollet Mall. Over the intervening years, the Twin Cities Pride Celebration has grown to be the largest GLBT Pride Celebration in the region and one of the largest in the United States. GLBT Pride/Twin Cities is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

It is the mission of GLBT Pride/Twin Cities to commemorate and celebrate our diverse heritage, inspire the achievement of equality and challenge discrimination.

Contact: Jim Kelley
Mobile: 612-331-7839
E-Mail: jmk@visi.com
Web: tcpride.org

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Eileen Scallen
Mobile: 612-306-9619
E-Mail: eileen.scallen@wmitchell.edu