By Peter D’Abrosca | Tennessee Star
The City of Murfreesboro settled a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over public drag performances, according to the legal nonprofit.
“American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Tennessee, Ballard Spahr, and Burr & Forman have settled a lawsuit filed against the City of Murfreesboro over its anti-LGBTQ+ ordinance and local policy denying all special event permit requests from the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), founder and host of the annual BoroPride Festival,” according to a release from the ACLU.
As part of the settlement, the city will pay $500,000 to the TEP and has agreed to lift a ban that it had put in place on granting event permits for the group.
“We celebrate the resolution of this case because it has guaranteed the rollback of a discriminatory policy and affirmed our right to host BoroPride,” said TEP Executive Director Chris Sanders. “Now we can turn our attention to preparing for the 2024 BoroPride festival and defending the rights of LGBTQ+ Tennesseans at the state legislature. Our gratitude goes to the LGBTQ+ community for standing with us and to the legal advocates who championed the defense of free speech and expression.”
As reported by The Tennessee Star, the lawsuit stemmed from a September 2022 BoroPride event scheduled at the city’s Cannonsburgh Village, a public venue.
That event went on as scheduled, but following it, the city revoked further TEP permits after it faced backlash from residents over videos of drag queens dancing for children were circulated online.
The 2023 BoroPride event was held at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) after Murfreesboro kept its promise and refused to issue TEP a permit.
The ACLU celebrated its legal win.
(While morality and good taste loss another battle)
“The government has no right to censor LGBTQ+ people and expression,” said representatives from the group. “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.”
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
