Members of the La Crosse Area Freethought Society (LCAFS) (Jan Contreras and Hank Zumach) and Minnesota Atheists (August Berkshire and Matthew Richardson) took turns staffing a booth at the La Crosse Gay Pride festival on August 28. The weather was sunny, hot, and windy. Speaking of hot wind, outside the festival gates a handful of evangelical Christians held a peaceful, though misguided, counter-demonstration. August confronted them and was told that one reason they could "prove" homosexuality was "unnatural" was that gay people, on average, didn't live as long as straight people. August pointed out that the higher level of suicides for gay youth was attributable to Christian persecution. The Christians also pointed to AIDS as a consequence of "sin." August countered that lesbians have the fewest STDs of all sexual orientations, so they must be "god's chosen people." In the end, it is impossible to argue with fundamentalists who are convinced that even the worst god-ordained atrocities of the Bible can be "properly interpreted" (i.e. spin-doctored) so as not to reflect badly on their god or their religion.