Even though the vote isn't until November,discussions about the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage were at the forefront of the 40th annual Twin Cities Pride festival Saturday in Minneapolis. Those against the amendment are using Pride as a way to grow support their cause.

Participants in the annual Twin Cities Pride Festival have an extra reason to celebrate this weekend when the event turns 40. The two-day festival, which runs Saturday and Sunday, is the third largest Gay Pride event in the nation. A spokesperson estimates 350,000 people from all over the state will attend.

An Anoka-based gay and lesbian youth advocacy group launched a petition after its members were told they can't walk in Anoka's annual Halloween parade. About 30 kids had planned to march with Justin's Gift but parade organizers told them there were already too many walking entrants participating.

St. Paul-area Lutherans assembling in Burnsville, and separately, Gov. Mark Dayton and other activists holding "house parties" around the state, demonstrated their opposition to an amendment to the state Constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

About 30 groups marched down Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis Saturday in the Twin Cities Heroes parade, a first for Minnesota and one of about a dozen special "welcome home" parades across the nation to specifically honoring post-9/11 veterans. The event was pushed back from April so members of Minnesota's Red Bull Division could join the event after returning home in May.