BoroPride, ACLU file First Amendment lawsuit against Murfreesboro: 'Government has no right to censor LGBTQ+ people'
BoroPride organizers teamed with the ACLU Friday to file a federal First Amendment lawsuit against the Murfreesboro government for rejecting continuation of the annual LGBTQ+ festival.
The ACLU sent out a news release Friday to announce the organization was providing legal representation for BoroPride organizers with the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation Inc. through a lawsuit filed in the federal district court in Nashville.
“The government has no right to censor LGBTQ+ people and our expression,” ACLU-TN legal director Stella Yarbrough said in the press release. “Restricting drag performances and censoring affirming LGBTQ+ messages are discriminatory actions and violate community members’ First Amendment rights.”
The issue began when Murfreesboro City Manager Craig Tindell sent a letter to the Tennessee Equality Project Foundation about a year ago to say he would refuse to sign permits for future BoroPride festivals that also include drag performances. Tindall accused the event organizers of exposing “children to a harmful prurient interest" during the event September 2022.
Tennessee Equality Project Executive Director Chris Sanders responded by saying that BoroPride would not compromise on First Amendment Rights and rejected the city's position that a drag show is adult entertainment.
"BoroPride celebrates the growing and vibrant LGBTQ+ community in the Murfreesboro area,” Sanders said in the ACLU news release. “Being able to hold our events in public spaces on the same terms as any other group is the basic fairness that we seek."
BoroPride reported that the 2022 event attracted over 7,000 to Cannonsburgh Village, an historic parks and recreation property on Front Street and across Broad Street (U.S. Highway 41) from nearby Murfreesboro City Hall.
BoroPride organizers tout offering LGBTQ+ people and their supporters a safe place to be themselves. The event started in 2016 on the Rutherford County Courthouse grounds on the city's historic downtown Public Square.
LGBTQ+ rights festival issue: City's threat to deny future events angers, insults BoroPride organizers
Although Tindall and other city officials have declined to allow the LGBTQ+ festival to continue the event on city property, BoroPride organizers won approval from Middle Tennessee State University to use MTSU's Tennessee Miller Coliseum on West Thompson Lane on the north side of Murfreesboro. The 2023 BoroPride festival will be Oct. 28 at the coliseum.
The news release also offered comments from Li Nowlin-Sohl, a staff attorney with the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project.
“Murfreesboro officials have engaged in a baseless, unconstitutional campaign to censor and restrict the lawful speech of BoroPride,” Li Nowlin-Sohl said. “This festival and the countless like it around the country celebrate the freedom of self-expression and cultivate community, solidarity, and joy among LGBTQ people. We’re filing this claim on behalf of BoroPride to ensure all residents of Murfreesboro know they can’t be targeted by their local officials simply for disagreeing with them.”
'We're super excited': BoroPride celebrates new LGBTQ+ 2023 festival location
BoroPride organizers have 10 attorneys, including Michael P. Robotti of New York, representing them, according to federal court records.
“We stand with the plaintiff and the ACLU in challenging these blatantly unconstitutional restrictions on expression, as well as the city’s discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community,” Robotti said in the press release. “The city is taking these actions against the Tennessee Equality Project and the BoroPride festival simply because city leaders disagree with their pro-LGBTQ+ message – and that’s a violation of the law and plaintiff’s constitutional rights.”
The press release also questioned a the city's recent community decency standards ordinance.
"The plaintiff is asking the court to find Murfreesboro’s new anti-drag ordinance unconstitutional and to stop the city from enforcing its blanket denial of all future special event permits applied for by TEP (Tennessee Equality Project)," the press release states.
The lawsuit named the city manager, Mayor Shane McFarland and the Murfreesboro City Council as being among the defendants. Five of the six council members were named as defendants as well: Jami Averwater, Madelyn Scales Harris, Austin Maxwell, Kirt Wade and Shawn Wright.
The lawsuit excluded Vice Mayor Bill Shacklett from the list of defendants. He was the only council member who opposed the city's community decency standards ordinance because he was concerned about library book banning and other First Amendment issues.
The lawsuit also names as defendants Michael Bowen, the Murfreesboro chief of police, and Kevin Jones, the city's director of code enforcement.
'Is that what we want?' Library book freedom may be issue with Murfreesboro decency standards ordinance
An email was left for Murfreesboro City Attorney Adam Tucker at 2:59 p.m. Friday, but he was unavailable for comment.
Note: This story will be updated.
Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow his tweets on the X social media platform @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
About BoroPride festival
When is the LGBTQ+ festival scheduled: 1-8 p.m. Oct. 28
Where is event: Tennessee Miller Coliseum off West Thompson Lane in north Murfreesboro
Admission: free event
What will be at event: a main stage with live entertainment, games, community information tables, vendors and "your favorite food trucks," says Leslie Russell Yost, one of the BoroPride organizers
Sponsoring group for BoroPride: Tennessee Equality Project Foundation, an organization that advocates for equal rights for LGBTQ+ people
Name of Facebook page that provides festival updates: BoroPride
Sponsorship opportunities or questions: email BoroPrideEvent@gmail.com
Inaugural year: 2016
Initial location: Grounds of historic Rutherford County Courthouse on Murfreesboro's downtown Public Square
Date of most recent festival: Sept. 17, 2022
Location for recent event: Cannonsburgh Village, an historical recreational area off Front Street and Northwest Broad Street (U.S. Highway 41) in Murfreesboro
Attendance at recent event: Over 7,000
Total BoroPride festivals so far: Six
Note: BoroPride skipped 2020 in the first year of COVID-19 pandemic
Source: Leslie Russell Yost, chairperson for 2022 BoroPride festival
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: BoroPride, ACLU file sue Murfreesboro over First Amendment
