Four picketers from the Westboro Baptist Church gathered at eleven am this morning outside the marriage license office in downtown Saint Paul, MN. Meanwhile, people went about their day getting 'gay married' across the state. WBC makes their picketing schedule public, so a large portion of the community was already aware they would be present on the streets of Saint Paul for the "day that MN begins to marry fags"

On the opposite corner of the intersection, a group of more than fifty same sex marriage supporters gathered with signs, glitter, and songs; proving to those driving past that love has won.













Governor Mark Dayton signed a proclamation today designating August 1st, 2013 as Freedom to Marry Day in Minnesota. Today marks the first day same sex couples are able to legally marry in the state of Minnesota, after a vote earlier this year. Same sex couples who previously married outside of Minnesota also now have their marriage legally recognized by the state. Minneapolis Mayor R.T Rybak married a same sex couple at 12:01 am this morning, the first of an expected 43 weddings around the Twin Cities today.





After a half hour of picketing at the marriage license office, the WBC foursome walked up the hill to the state capitol building to continue their picketing. They had a permit to protest and therefore were allowed to stand on the steps closer to the building.

Minnesota's state capitol

Three WBC members pose while a fourth snaps a photo of them at the capitol

Not long after, the same sex marriage supporters followed and gathered. They were kindly asked by the police officer on duty to remain at the bottom of the steps because they had not obtained a permit. For the most part, people listened. Then they broke out into song singing Barney's I love you theme.

Crowd control within the group helped keep supporters at the bottom of the capitol stairs

Ben Egerman (left) on the stairs near the WBC picketers









Westboro Baptist Church has been picketing for decades, and as Emma Gerch, a crowd member put it, "Everybody knows Westboro is bad, it's not really a question anymore" some might wonder, why are we still giving them media attention? For one, because they seem to have lost their steam! Four measly members to picket the day our great state has same sex marriage rights? Can't they do better?! My fiancee Mandi and I were both surprised at the small display of their hatred compared to the large crowd of support that gathered to oppose them.





Secondly, there will always be those that believe we don't deserve the same rights as every other person around us. Thankfully in this instance, they no longer outnumber us. We have to continually show these people though, we are as relentless in our fight for equality as they are in their fight to keep us down. Love won in Minnesota, and it will continue to win over hate of WBC and other anti-gay groups.













All images in this blog post were taken by the author specifically for Freedom Requires Wings, and should not be used elsewhere without the photographer's expressed written permission.











