Residents of Ohio Avenue and nearby streets organized the March for Tolerance on Friday, April 12, 1996, to protest a presentation by Scott Lively, author of “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party.” After hours making signs, filling balloons and attracting television coverage, the 100 or so adults and children marched from the intersection of Ohio and La Follette avenues to the church across East Washington Avenue with police halting traffic for the pedestrians. They joined other protesters, who numbered about 400, with perhaps 20 people attending the lecture to listen to Lively.
The talk was sponsored by Monroe, Wisconsin, pastor Ralph Ovadal’s hate-mongering Wisconsin Christians United. Pilgrims Covenant Church in Monroe later absorbed Wisconsin Christians United and was listed as a hate group in 2015 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Capital Times published front-page story Saturday, April 13. The Wisconsin State Journal published three paragraphs on page 2C of its Sunday edition.
