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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.
Well, I live here in St. Louis, and am a avid attendee of the Gay Pride Parade here. Although, I am “straight”, I agree with the ruling to hand out leaflets. You either agree, or disagree, who cares? There might be “1″ person in that huge crowd that might get the message on religion, so it’s worth it, right?
when I said “thier church” I meant OUTSIDE of it…on public property.
Absolutely, although I hope we have better things to do with our Sunday mornings. Free speech is free speech, even when it is exercised by idiots.
I’m with Disgusted…I think I’ll just start popping into mass at the local RC church and handing out fliers for a social group (er, which I suppose I should create ahead of time) for LGBT folks. Good grief, but the Christians are getting desperate, aren’t they?
All of you – take their leaflets And do as I did somewhere else – turn around and stuff them down the crack of your ass
Scott P’s got a good idea about asking for leaflets then throwing them away, but I’d make sure they DO see you throwing them away. Don’t let them think you actually helped them get their message out. Downside: At the end of the day, they’ll judge their success based on how many leaflets went out. Lastly, if it’s just a gospel tract and not anti-gay, who’s it hurting?
The whole reason it’s called a “pride” event is because of how we’ve risen above these groups’ insistence that we should be ashamed. I think we should keep them around, leaflets and all, because the more shame they try to heap on us, the prouder we feel about having risen above them. If they stop coming, I’d even start an improv acting troupe to play their roles, interacting with the crowd, always reminding us of what we’ve overcome.
KaninZ says ” It’s when we try to silence opposing views that we move away from freedom.” And just what do you call what the Christain Taliban is trying to do to gays all over this country? Oh, I forgot: “love the sinner but hate the sin.” …and stuff all of us back in the closet and shut our mouths.
If the weapon or tool is effective – USE IT. They do. Now it is our turn.
My suggestion is to do what I’ve done a number of times. Politely take the leaflet, ask for a couple of others for, say your friends and family, then, when they’re not looking, dump them in the garbage. Leaflets cost money, try to cost these people as much as you can. Remember when Falwell was on his anti-gay crusade in the early 80s? He had an 800 prayer line. Many of us would call it, tie up the lines, costing them time and money. Soon they eliminated the 800 number. Hit them in their pocketbooks, that’s one of our best tactics.
Ummm…if you don’t want a leaflet, just politely say “No, thanks.”
If they are harassing you, report them and they will lose their legal standing.
This isn’t rocket science folks. Free speech is for everyone and as long as we stay polite about it the idea works. It’s when we try to silence opposing views that we move away from freedom.
I wonder if St. Louis Pridefest had to pay money to obtain a permit for use of the property and is allowed to charge admission to their festival? If the festival is a “permitted” and controled “rental” of the public property, as long as the ministry is paying, like everyone else, to particiapte and be admitted to the festival….great! let them in and leaflet away to their heart’s content! If the ministry is just being granted “free access” into the festival to pass out their literature….there is a real problem with the ruling and the way this is being implemented.
My partner used to be a police officer in St. Louis and says as for the leafleting the churchs, yes it is private property, but as long as you stay on the sidewalk, which is public property, you are not violating the law.
Fine Let them leaflet and then everyone attending grab a handfull and throw them away – that solves the issue!!!
I was at the last pride they were at. They stood allong the parade rout, with their cameras, filming everyone, disrupted the parade with bullhorns, and got in your face with their religious crap. Eventually, a bunch of them were arrested for disturbing the piece and disrupting the parade.
throwing that crap right back in their face if they try to give me that crap when i’m there!!
Then i’ll throw it in the trash…dont want to litter in the park….