via Twin Cities Pride:(MINNEAPOLIS) 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.” READ MORE
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