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Loading ...Fed judge allows ministry to leaflet at St. Louis gay pride
06.17.2009 12:00pm EDT
(St. Louis) A federal judge has issued a permanent order allowing a ministry to leaflet at a gay pride event in St. Louis later this month.
A lawyer representing Apple of His Eye Inc. said Monday that the ministry will resume religious leafleting at St. Louis’ PrideFest on June 27-28, following the judge’s ruling.Ministry members have said they were threatened with arrest by a ranger when they tried to hand out religious fliers at PrideFest in Tower Grove Park in 2006. Some viewed their actions as disruptive and felt they were violating a city ban on leafleting in public parks.
The group’s lawyer, Rick Nelson, said members of the Messianic Jewish organization believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and were handling out fliers about the Gospel. The literature did not mention homosexuality, he said.
The ministry sued last year, and U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey issued a preliminary order, saying St. Louis can’t totally ban leafleting in public parks.
Autrey made his order permanent last week.
PrideFest organizers did not respond to requests for comment. The two-day festival draws about 80,000 participants and includes a parade, entertainment, food and information booths.
There’s a name for Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah. I think they’ve long been called…um…CHRISTIANS!…
Why do the Jews For Jesus want to market their “faith” at a gay pride festival. I have no problem with it, I just find it odd. I can’t imagine a LESS receptive demographic for their product, but…whatever.
Don’t wipe your butt with their leaflets – the ink comes off.
K. so what is “good for the Goose is good for the Gander”
Hand out FFRF.org literature. Hand out HRC literature. Hand out literature about how so many versus in the bible have been used to justify slavery, justify abuse of women (as property) and why not hand out leaflets about all the other Bullshit in the bible like not mixing clothing material or eating shellfish, etc…
I would love to see the faces on some of the Christian Taliban when they get a leaflet asking them if they have been sacrificing the right amount of goats and lambs as instructed in the bible. (no mention of sex, sexuality or anything to do with LGBT)
Flood the park with Leaflets and fliers! use their leaflets for burning fires for your bbq pits at the festival.
I’d follow them everywhere they handed out ‘leaflets’ and then give a GLBT leaflet to the same folks..
Then your hear screams… the ones they aren’t gonna like!
Ok Luke, so surely you won’t mind when we gays start handing out gay fliers in public right?..you cannot have it both ways…I can’t wait until you see the FIRST of many fliers we have in mind…
This group is a member of the St. Louis Christain Taliban organization (Attached to Focus on the Family organization).
I cant wait!
Repent america attends every Philly gay event and they have a bull horn as well as large amounts of plainclothes police officers w/ cop armbands to denote themselves as the fuzz.
They yell at us and call us sinners. And in turn we yell back, seemingly. The repent america people bring their kids as well. Isn’t that lovely?
Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to gather people for years to go protest at their church, but oddly their church is hard to find and not so oddly, the gays won’t gather for this but they’ll gather for tylenol sleeping pill sponsered movie events.
If every other group has to pay to have a booth there, then I think they should too. There are booths that are only handing out information. If not, then they should be allowed.
Actually, Natas et al, their church is not really their private property. You pay for it via the tax breaks they get. If churches paid all the same taxes like everyone else, you’d have a point.
I have to agree with Natas here. As long as they are being respectful and aren’t causing a scene then it shouldn’t be an issue. I think the problem is, people here about a ministry (technically it’s a synagogue) passing out pamphlets at a gay event, and the first thing most gay people think of is someone like Fred Phelps. If they weren’t saying anything about homosexuality there should be no issue. Messianic jews aren’t fundamentalist christians, and are not necessarily a homophobic sect, although I’m sure it varies by synagogue.
Disgusted, a church is not a public space, it’s private property. Their is no right to leaflet on private property. It sounds like St. Louis passed a law against leafleting in the park, one of those “anti-liter” ordinances, and that’s what’s at the heart of this. The fact that the event is gay pride or that it’s a church that sued is incidental. Kudos for the court for protecting free-speech in public areas.
I agree with Natas…. Mostly. I would say though that if there is a fee associated with the permit for the event then this group could easily be required by the group that pays that fee to pay a portion of it. I dont think that it is fair that the group should have to pay the entire cost for clean up as I’m sure they are if there is going to be a group of people there not associated with the event passing out pieces of paper that will probably end up all over the ground.
Disgusted, It is fair, what they are asking; is to be allowed in a public place to attempt to pass out their leaflets. I see nothing wrong with it. I dont want one of their leaflets myself, but they have the right in public to do this. Their church is private property. Now if they asked to pass out their propaganda at a gay bar..yes then I would have a problem with it. In public you can ignore them and simply not take their leaflet.
How about LGBT grps handing out leaflets at thier churches? Its only fair.