LGBTQ+ Group Can Sue Florida City Over Public Drag Show Limits

A nonprofit group that provides social services for Naples, Fla.'s LGBTQ+ community can proceed with a suit saying the city’s permitting process as applied to its Pridefest public event violated its constitutional free-speech rights.

Naples Pride sufficiently alleged a First Amendment claim over the city’s refusal to issue a permit for its annual Pridefest in a public park unless organizers moved a planned “family friendly” drag show indoors and limited its audience to adults, the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida said Tuesday. Judge John E. Steele accepted the plaintiff’s assertion that the restriction was content-based, and ...