Town will pay half-million dollars for banning Pride festivals & making homosexuality illegal

Murfreesboro, TN, has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit for $500,000 and repeal an ordinance intended to ban drag shows and Pride festivals.

In June, the town banned public displays of sexual behavior, including “behaviors, materials or events that are patently offensive to the adult community.” “Sexual conduct” barred under the city ordinance includes “homosexuality.”

Related: The history of drag goes far deeper than you might think

Elyssa Maxx Goodman’s new book, “Glitter and Concrete,” traces the long and glamorous history of New York City’s drag scene.

The city has used the ordinance to ban books from libraries and schools and to try to shut down the local Pride festival.

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The vague ordinance outlawed “indecent behavior” in public, prohibited “indecent materials,” and stated that local lawmakers have “the right to establish and preserve contemporary community standards.” The definition used in the law was based on a longtime city statute that explicitly bans public homosexuality or materials that promote homosexuality.

The Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Tennessee sued over the city’s efforts to silence a local LGBTQ+ organization, including denying the group permits to host events and the local ordinance banning drag performances. A federal judge blocked the attempt to shut down the local Pride festival.

During a recent city council meeting, the seven members voted unanimously to remove “homosexuality” from the list of sexual conduct prohibited in public. The settlement agreement stipulates that the town will repeal the entire law.

“The City put in place a discriminatory policy, prohibiting TEP from obtaining permits to host its annual BoroPride Festival and any other events on City property,” the ACLU and Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) asserted in legal findings when they sued. “Then, it enacted a discriminatory ordinance meant to drive TEP and the City’s LGBTQ+ community—and, in particular, its drag performers—out of the City’s public spaces. These actions, which were driven by animus against the LGBTQ+ community, are blatantly unconstitutional.”

While the mayor and city manager had vowed to reject any applications to host a Pride festival, the settlement forces them to treat LGBTQ+ people equally.

“The government has no right to censor LGBTQ+ people and expression,” said attorneys for the ACLU, ACLU of Tennessee, Ballard Spahr, and Burr & Forman in a joint statement. “More important than the monetary recovery, this settlement sends a clear message that the city’s discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community was blatantly unconstitutional and that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated here — or anywhere across the country.”

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