Brian Johnson, an especially zealous evangelical who has made it his business to hand out bibles at Minnesota’s Twin Cities Pride Parade since 1995, is suing for the right to do so after parade organizers have cut him off.
Reports FOX News:
In recent years, the people behind the event, which draws as many as 300,000 people, have tried to oust him, first nixing his bid for a booth and then having him arrested in 2009.
Johnson, a taxidermist by trade and an evangelical by calling, sat out last year’s event for fear of arrest, according to his attorney. But the legal wrangling has continued behind the scenes, and this year parade organizers, at the suggestion of a federal judge, designated “free-speech zones” on the Pride Festival grounds, where people like Johnson could distribute literature the organizers wouldn’t otherwise approve.
Johnson and his attorney reject the policy, which is backed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Johnson believes he not only has God on his side, but the Constitution, too.
Can’t this crazed taxidermist just keep to his freaking Bible-approved zones? Some people.
“Johnson believes that the Bible is God’s word and sets out a plan of salvation for all people,” his attorney wrote in a 26-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court of Minnesota. “Johnson believes the Bible teaches that all people are sinners and therefore deserve God’s wrath, but anyone can receive salvation by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ.”
If he really thinks that all people are sinners, he ought to be stumping, on a regular basis, at other sinful public causes other than the gay pride parades. Such as: wet T-shirt contests, garage sales, Puerto Rican Day Parades, outdoor concerts, taxidermy conventions, etc.
How about we take this to the next level?
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CarnacTheMagnificent
Nice cover for yet another closeted evangelical freak!
Kev C
Sexy gay bibles? Pink glitter bibles? If it’s just plain boring bibles, he can get stuffed.
Beto
The most creepy mugshot I’ve ever seen… Those eyes are too much close!!!
FreddyMertz
Just an observation…his eyes are to close together. I agree with the last paragraph…why not stipper bars, liquor stores, “adult” bookstores, I guess any bar in general..Oh, how ’bout Jewish temples, Mosques…I guess any religion that doesn’t accept Jesus…so many sinners so many places.
the other Greg
“As a dog returneth to its vomit, so returneth a fool to his folly.” – Proverbs 26:11
iDavid
I think the parade organizers are perfectly their rights to reject this guys application for a booth. First off it’s dangerous as violence could easily ensue, second, you wouldn’t have a beef salesman at a vegetarian convention, just not a fit for the general flavor of the affair. Third, he is doing it out of spite as a self appointed “wrath” promoter.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It may be held in a public park but it’s the organizers dollars and creation. It would seem they have a right to do business in a safe and moral manner. This dude is as immoral as they come. The eyes tell all.
Timmeeeyyy!!!
I’ve never been a fan of the Orwellian “free speech zones.” Certainly the organizers have the right to deny him a booth, but if this is a public festival on public land, then he should be able to hand out his bibles. We can’t defend free speech unless we defend it for all.
Bob
Let him hand them out, and then rip them up and throw them in the trash right in front of him. If he wants to pay for a pile of garbage, let him!
JT
Of course, the gays could go to his church and protest loudly, telling them how hateful they are during their services. Equality, right?
iDavid
@KT
And spend good gas money to get there? I think not! ; )
Sam Carlson
First Amendment right baby!!!!
The Truth
@Beto: The close eyes are a result from all of the inbreeding!
Sam Carlson
@JT:
No, because that is pri property. I do not agree with this jerk, but he has a right to pass Bibles on public property. It scares me when the first amendment is violated as it will be if he is denied the right to pass bibles on public property
Charlie in Charge
@Timmeeeyyy!!!: If we can go to his church and hand out copies of the Tales of the City then sure.
JT
@Sam Carlson: Doesn’t have to be in their church. Sidewalks are close enough. People have to enter and leave churches.
pixipie
@CarnacTheMagnificent: “Nice cover for yet another closeted evangelical freak!” hilarity!
I think attendees should be more grateful for the bible handouts. Don’t you realise how often those port-o-potties run out of toilet paper?
B
The article didn’t say, but if he is just walking around with bag labeled, “free Bibles”, he’s not disturbing anyone. If he’s shouting, “you are all sinners who are going to Hell,” he’s a nuisance, particularly if he uses a megaphone.
If he wants a booth at the parade, its usually up to the organizers, particularly when there aren’t enough booths for every organization that wants one. Someone usually has to pay various fees to hold the event and there is an incentive to have booths that will attract people.
1equalityUSA
Serial killer eyes. Disturbed. Why are gays his only focus? This says more about him than about us. Forensics ought to probe the underbelly of his house.
Dionte
He look scary/crazy.
Jimmy Velvet
Inbreeding. Never pretty.
Bipolar Bear
This is what really pisses me off about these people. How would they react if we walked into their church right in the middle of a service and did similar acts of aggressive, intimidating evangelism? They’d call the cops, stat. Arseholes.
evji108
Just let him hand out the bibles. Organize a bunch of people to collect them and then take them to a landfill. Handing out bibles isn’t particularly disruptive behavior, if he is proselytizing on a megaphone that is another issue. People going to gay pride will not be interested in his bibles, just ignore and/or also collect the bibles for disposal. It’s really too late, but by denying him, they have given him the attention he wanted in the first place. Now he appears to be the victim.
iDavid
If he rants he could be cited for disturbing the peace and hauled off.
If there were a way to sue for confusing suffocating and poisoning the soul, all religions would go away. If Jesus could be separated from the Bible, what a coup that would be. He needs saving, out of the hands and writings of religious fanatics.
Olive Austin
He looks like Littleface Finney from the Dick Tracy comics.
Sohobod
Why has no one commented on how creepy it is that he’s a taxidermist?
And why are a disproportionately large persentage Americans (Right or Left, gay or straight, religious or atheist) are stark staring mad?
1equalityUSA
“Taxidermy (from the Greek for arrangement of skin) is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display.” Sounds like this guy exploits dead animals as well as the gay community. I wonder what he thinks about all year, as he arranges those skins in his lonely quarters. Sewing and mounting and purchasing Bibles. Mounting some more, waiting for the parade. Mounting.
Speaking of sick, exploitative, killers of animals, San Francisco, is spending huge dollars to fund that dog killer artist from the 70’s. I believe he went to a pet shelter and brought home a little black and white dog, tied it up and shot it on film and called it art. 1977? This little dog was likely so happy to be adopted finally, only to meet his demise for the sake of one man’s notoriety. Now the S.F Art’s Commission decided his work belongs in San Francisco, at a hospital, no less, after the subway refused to have him. He has since apologized for his cruelty, but if he were truly apologetic, he would give S.F. back the money and go far away. He lives in Brooklyn? Not far enough away. Any further and he would taint some other country. The only apology I could accept is if he were to tie himself up to a fence and film himself. St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, would turn in his grave if he knew this heinous artist was being paid to have his work displayed at a San Francisco hospital. It’s shameful. He doesn’t belong here. Google dog killer artist.
Rockery
He is scary looking
m
this guy is scary looking
J Stratford
Get the bible – make him pay for the expense! Then either give it to someone else or throw it away when you get back home.
But please don’t rip it. People can videotape you… that’s the last thing we want to be seen doing.
Shannon1981
Hmmm. Tough one. Obviously this dude is doing this for spite and no other reason. These xtian nutbags know that Pride is pretty much sacred to the LGBT community, and its the easy way to hit us where it hurts.
I think in the name of basic decency, he should be kept away.
Shannon1981
@Sohobod: That profession is probably part of what drove him nuts.
Gray
I saw this nutjob at Pride a few years ago. Someone had knocked over his box of bibles and a skinny boy in wings and glitter stopped to help him pick them all up, which seemed to confuse him–like he couldn’t decide whether to say ‘thank you’ or ‘fuck off’. It made me laugh.
hf2hvit
CRAZY EYES
Carl
@J Stratford: Well, since he has given to someone, it is a gift and thus becomes their property. As their private property, they are free to do whatever they wish with it. Personally, I would write “Bollocks” in bright red pen on as many pages as I could and hand it back to him as a gift. Or maybe give him a gift of that novel I read a few years back about Jesus being gay and his former lover, a Roman soldier, became a vampire after he was killed. Bet he’d love that lol
dave
perhaps if he continues to attend gay pride events, a merciful God might help him to come out.
PTBoat
This is off subject, but aren’t those super close together eyes a signal that he family tree doesn’t branch? Perhaps he’s not equipped to handle reality.
Doug MacKay
Somebody should take him aside and tell him as a taxidermist….TO GET STUFFED!