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Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Requiring Protesters to Leave LGBTQ Festival Area Violated Free Speech Rights


The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion finding Nashville's requirement that anti-gay protesters move from the sidewalk in the LGBTQ festival area and across the street violated the protesters' free speech rights. McGlone v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, et al.

The Nashville Pride Festival was held in June of 2015, pursuant to a special events permit issued by Nashville. A group of protesters also showed up to the event with the purpose of protesting the Festival. However, police told them they could not remain on the sidewalk area immediately adjacent to the Festival and would have to move across the street.  Attendees of the Festival were not asked to leave, however. After the Festival was over, the protesters filed suit claiming that the police actions violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The issue for the court was whether Nashville's exclusion of the protesters from the sidewalk area in the park was unconstitutional. The court concluded that the police actions were unconstitutional because there was no evidence that the protesters would interfere with the Festival, leading the court to conclude that the only reason they were moved was because their message conflicted with the Festival's message. Since Nashville couldn't show a compelling government interest for making them move to the other side of the street, the protesters' free speech rights were violated.

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