In response to Saturday's planned Ku Klux Klan visit and demonstration at City Hall, Mayor Will Wynn proclaimed the day as a day of tolerance.
Wynn urged citizens to go about their lives and consider doing something beneficial for their communities to demonstrate Austin's tolerance in light of the Klan's presence.
Members of the Klan are gathering in Austin to support Proposition 2, an amendment up for vote that would ban same-sex marriages in the Texas constitution and define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Representatives from the Klan could not be reached for comment.
Councilmembers Brewster McCracken and Lee Leffingwell both supported the mayor. Other council members agreed with Wynn but said the Klan could demonstrate because of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Councilman Raul Alvarez said that citizens should exercise their rights in a productive way.
"The KKK only gets exposure when they have a counter-protest," he said.
The mayor added that allowing the Klan to gather at the city's center is not an endorsement of their actions in any way.
Lauren Rose, communications director for No Nonsense in November, a political action committee opposed to Proposition 2, said her organization is holding a "non-violent vigil" to protest the Klan's visit. The vigil will include a handful of speakers talking about discrimination, and every NNN representative or member will be signing a pledge of nonviolence, she said.
"We are standing in love, not hate," Rose said, "to respond to the hate and discrimination by the KKK."
Mike Corwin, a member of the International Socialist Organization, said his group encouraged as many people as possible to attend and protest the Klan's assembly. The Klan's visit also happens to fall during a socialist conference in Austin Saturday.
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