Blog Should you protest the Basilica Block Party?

There’s currently a Facebook event circulating that attempts to raise awareness of what some say is the ignorance behind the Basilica Block Party. The argument? Protest the Catholic Church-hosted block party if you care about gay rights, gay marriage, or civil rights in general. And if you attend? Well, then you’re essentially tolerant of hate, discrimination, and any other less-than-progressive social policy the Catholic Church has put its buck behind.

But does this logic pan out? Say that you attend this year’s block party to see buzzed-about locals 4onohefloor. (Hell, we interviewed frontman Gabe Douglas in April.) Are you supporting the band or the Church? The answer, unfortunately, is that you are supporting both. The long and the short of this debate is that the event is a fundraiser for the church. Going simply to see your favorite band? The church will benefit.

The popularity of the Say No The Block Party Facebook group is notable. In just a few days, it’s gone from listing about a thousand attendees to, at the time of this publishing, 3,400 attendees. But would these people have attended the block party anyway? The event has, uh, always been hosted by the Catholic Church, and as such, it’s often been viewed as (excuse the Hipster Runoff verbiage) being a touch lamestream. That’s not to say there aren’t some wholly decent folks on the bill; there are local bands aplenty playing the various stages, like Zoo Animal and White Light Riot just to name a couple. But the the Minnesota legislature has been divided this year, debating about whether to put a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman on the ballot. The church has not only supported the measure through preaching, but also with money that went into lobbying and creating anti-gay DVDs mailed out to more than 400,000 Catholics. The measure to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot passed, and suddenly, the ringing of the Basilica bells sounds a bit more bigoted. 

So, what does it cost to attend the Basilica Block Party? A single-night pass is $40, and a two-night pass is $70. Fancy yourself a VIP? Pay $250 to $1500. On the Facebook group denouncing the event, some commenters are saying that none of this money will go to anti-gay preaching or lobbying, and that the funds in fact go to the beautification of the building as well as charity. But in the end, is there a difference? Today in a MinnPost article, one of the founders of the protest, Nicole Burg, notes, “If the Archdiocese wasn’t spending all that money on DVDs (in support of the amendment), it could use the money to renovate the Basilica.” And that’s exactly right. The event is hosted by the Catholic Church, and held in its shadow, and if you purchase your (tax-deductible) tickets to see G. Love & Special Sauce, you might as well be voting discrimination into Minnesota law.

What do you think?