Star Tribune and GLBT Pride/Twin Cities Settle DisputeMinneapolis/St. Paul - (November 14, 2006) - GLBT Pride/Twin Cities and the Star Tribune announced today that they have settled a dispute relating to the 2004 GLBT Pride Festival and look forward to working together in a new sponsorship arrangement.
GLBT Pride has dropped a pending lawsuit in Hennepin County District Court against the Star Tribune, and the Star Tribune has agreed to continue sponsoring GLBT Pride.
Ben Taylor, Star Tribune senior vice president of marketing and communications, said the Star Tribune would resume its sponsorship of the GLBT Pride Festival in June of 2007. “We have great respect for GLBT Pride and its mission, and always have,” Taylor said. “Our two organizations had a legitimate disagreement, which we have resolved. We are happy that we can move forward and continue the same strong support that we have given Twin Cities Pride in the past.”
Jim Kelley, immediate past-president of GLBT Pride/Twin Cities, said Pride is eager to resume its partnership with the Star Tribune. “The Star Tribune has been one of our best partners over the years,” Kelley said. “We have successfully worked through a disagreement on important and fundamental issues. The process has helped us understand each other better and will make our partnership stronger in the future.”
Kelley and Taylor said they are still discussing the details of their sponsorship agreement going forward but that the Star Tribune will resume its role as one of GLBT Pride’s highest level sponsors.
They issued the following joint statement announcing their agreement:
“GLBT Pride and Star Tribune regret their difficult and strained relationship during the past two years after many years of working together. The positive side of this dispute is that we both have grown in understanding each other’s views of their rights, responsibilities, and missions.
The dispute began in June 2004 when the Star Tribune, which was a sponsor of the annual GLBT Pride festival, declined to print a photograph submitted by GLBT Pride as part of the 2004 Pride Festival advertisements, which contained a same-sex kiss.
Star Tribune did not intend to offend GLBT Pride with this decision, and GLBT Pride never wanted to dictate what Star Tribune could and could not print, even in advertising.
GLBT Pride respects Star Tribune’s fierce protection of the uniquely American freedom of the press and acknowledges Star Tribune’s right to control content of the newspaper.
Likewise, Star Tribune respects GLBT Pride’s mission: “To commemorate and celebrate our diverse heritage, to inspire the achievement of equality and challenge discrimination,” as illustrated in part by Star Tribune’s prior years of support of GLBT Pride and the Pride Festival and its desire to serve as a sponsor once again.
Star Tribune understands and regrets that GLBT Pride and some members of the GLBT community were deeply offended by Star Tribune’s decision. Through its dialogue with GLBT Pride, Star Tribune understands why GLBT Pride believed that the photograph represented the very notion of “Pride” by showing two men expressing their love and affection publicly, rather than hiding it, and that the image captured the essence of Pride’s 2004 theme, “Dreaming Out Loud,” furthering the dream of same-sex relationships being as visible as other relationships.
GLBT Pride acknowledges the strong support of GLBT issues that Star Tribune has demonstrated over the years on its editorial pages, in news coverage and to its own GLBT employees.”
About the Star Tribune
The Star Tribune Company, a news and information company serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, is owned by The McClatchy Company of Sacramento, Calif. (NYSE:MNI). The Star Tribune newspaper is one of the top 20 largest newspapers in the nation, with a daily circulation of 371,258 and a Sunday circulation of 621,841 (per Audit Bureau of Circulation audit for 52-weeks ending 3/26/06). The company’s website, www.StarTribune.com is the most frequently used local news and information service for the Twin Cities market. The Star Tribune Foundation has been supporting Twin Cities’ communities since 1945 and currently distributes about $3 million annually. On the Net: The Star Tribune Company: www.startribune.com/company, and The McClatchy Company: www.mcclatchy.com.
About GLBT Pride/Twin Cities
GLBT Pride/Twin Cities, the organizer of the Twin Cities Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgender (GLBT) Pride Celebration, which will celebrate its 35th year in 2007, began in 1972 with a small group of activists meeting for a picnic in Minneapolis’ Loring Park and a short march down Nicollet Mall. Over the intervening years, the Twin Cities Pride Celebration has grown to be the largest GLBT Pride in the region and the 3rd largest in the United States, with an estimated combined attendance in excess of 400,000 people at five events. GLBT Pride/Twin Cities is a nonprofit organization with a mission to commemorate and celebrate our diverse heritage, inspire the achievement of equality and challenge discrimination.
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Contact Sally Nelson
Phone: (612) 673-7771
Email: snelson@startribune.com
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