By Whitney Barnes
Staff Writer

The Marshall City Council Chamber was packed on Tuesday, July 16, with people waiting to voice their opinions on the recently approved street closure for MORR’s Pride Fest.

According to information on the MORR Pride Fest Facebook page, this family-friendly event is scheduled for September 7 on the Marshall Square. The event is expected to feature various activities such as food vendors, face painting, live music, pop-up art shows, queer experience exhibits, guest speakers, artisans, drag shows and an all-age rainbow rave, among other activities.

Nine individuals addressed the council in opposition to the event on Tuesday. Among them was Calvery Baptist Church Pastor Rodney Haggett, who stated he believed the council approved the street closure without having a clear understanding of the nature of the event. He referred to Councilman Thompson and Councilman Green, who sought clarification but were only told that the event would be family-friendly with activities like face painting. Pastor Haggett expressed concerns about the vendors and the nature of their products, drawing comparisons to other pride festivals labeled as family-friendly.

“Vendors displayed and sold adult sexual novelties and toys,” he said. “I will also point you to the fact that that’s not family friendly.”

He stated that the city does have an ordinance that prohibits the public display of explicit sexual material in 210-1710. He indicated the ordinance states that a person commits the offense of public display of explicit sexual material if he or she recklessly exposes, places, exhibits, or in any fashion displays explicit sexual material in any location, whether public or private, in such a manner that it may be readily seen and identified by normal unaided vision from a city street, highway, public sidewalk, or property of others.

Marshall Baptist Temple Pastor Claude Fields also spoke in opposition of the event. He stated his belief that it is the duty of the city council to maintain a form of community standards, adding that standards for the surrounding bigger cities are not necessarily standards for Marshall.

“We look to you to help maintain our standards as it relates to the atmosphere of our community,” he said to the council. “All of us are affected by the atmosphere, the activities of our community. … Our city sets the standards for the functioning of our city that we all might enjoy an atmosphere of living in our city. This atmosphere needs to be maintained.”

Travis Farr, pastor of Nelson Baptist Church, addressed the council to request that they reconsider their decision regarding the approval of the upcoming event.

“I hear you pledge allegiance to that flag, and I also hear you pray to God, but yet you voted for something that is directly against the Biblical standard,” he said. “Now, nowhere in my life, in anything that I’ve learned, would that ever be tolerable from someone like me, regardless of what my intentions were or who I was trying to please. There’s brothers in Christ on that board, and we’re called to repentance. To change and take a stand. … Please change your mind.”

Pastor Melanie Dees Campbell also spoke publicly in opposition of the event, emphasizing that the council’s primary responsibility is to represent the community. She stated that she did not believe that the council’s approval of the event aligned with the sentiments of the community members based on the size of the crowd present at the meeting.

Additionally, she raised concerns about the mistreatment of pastors who voiced their objections of the event online, stating they are now receiving hate mail and threats. Campbell stressed that this behavior was unacceptable.

Marshall resident Naomi Campbell expressed her opposition to the event and brought attention to other gatherings that have taken place on the Marshall square in the past few years.

“The person, family, and community-wide decisions we make today affect not only us but those of the future,” she said. “If we look at the direction that a few of the recent festivals, fundraisers, and activities in Marshall and on the square have taken us in the past few years, we can see a trend. Changes of law have opened the doors for more alcohol and other substances and actions, and we appear to be going along with it so far. If we continue in some of these directions, we will learn the hard way that this type of togetherness and family friendly fun or entertainment is not in keeping with what Marshall was established to be or to become, or what Marshall’s mission is.”

Three individuals were present on Tuesday to voice their support for the event, including the event’s organizer, Quill Jones. One of the individuals, who identified themselves as Alex, told the council that LGBTQ Pride Fests remind members that they are not alone in the community.

“I want to talk about how important community is for LGBTQ youth,” she said. “ … People who are in the LGBTQ community, like myself, are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, and the way we prevent that is through community. … Having a public space where you’re accepted, where people know that they can be themselves, where you know that there are people like you, is something that is so, so very important. And I think it’s wonderful for Marshall to have this space.”

David Bowers, a former debate coach at Missouri Valley College, also expressed his support for the event. Bowers acknowledged that Haggett made valid points in his approach to the conversation. However, he stated that if there are concerns about the content at pride events, he recommended that Haggett attend the event to assess the content personally.

He emphasized his belief that churches could make a greater impact by participating in the event and engaging with LGBTQ members.

“I’m asking you to think about the best path forward in terms of changing people’s minds,” The question is, is hiding it and making sure it doesn’t exist better than engaging with it and seeing if you could alter people’s points of view from there? …. Engaging with people is better; it’s how you reach them. … I’ll say this: it’s not possible to get to Christ unless someone talks to you about Christ, right? In that way, preaching the gospel by being a part of the event is dramatically better than anything else.”

Jones also addressed the council on Tuesday and informed them that she had emailed or messaged numerous church leaders, inviting them to the event to offer inclusive and supportive praise and worship.

“This is about community,” Jones reiterated. “I have offered as many as I can reach, businesses on the square … free space to come promote their business. … Happy to promote you, happy to let y’all be sponsors for free. I want to build up the community.”

No action was taken regarding the matter on Tuesday evening.