The City of Murfreesboro has settled a federal lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee after the city refused to grant an event permit for the 2023 BoroPride Festival.
An October 2022 letter from Murfreesboro City Manager Craig Tindall called BoroPride event organizer Tennessee Equality Project’s 2022 application “misleading.” In the letter, Tindall pledged to deny future special-event permits submitted by the organization, which led to a lawsuit — filed by the ACLU and others on behalf of TEP — one year later.
Days later, a federal judge blocked a city ordinance aimed at banning drag performances from happening on public property, and on Oct. 28, 2023, BoroPride was successfully held at Murfreesboro's Miller Coliseum. In November, the city amended a decades-long city ordinance aimed at banning “acts of homosexuality” in public.
According to an ACLU release, the city has agreed to pay $500,000 to the TEP, as well as repealing the ordinance and accepting any future event permit applications from the group.
Pride events in Franklin and Nashville will move forward, while Murfreesboro and Knoxville events are on shakier ground
"We celebrate the resolution of this case because it has guaranteed the rollback of a discriminatory policy and affirmed our right to host BoroPride,” says 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,” he continues. “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.”
In January 2023, right-wing activist group Turning Point USA held its so-called Teens Against Gender Mutilation Rally in Murfreesboro, which drew both LGBTQ-advocate counter-protesters and members of far-right hate group the Proud Boys.
An onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation in 2023 led to Pride celebrations across the state adapting or being canceled. This year, Pride flags are being debated at the Capitol as legislation aims to ban those and other flags from public schools.
“The government has no right to censor LGBTQ+ people and expression,” ACLU attorney Ballard Spahr says. “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.”
The City of Murfreesboro has not returned a request for comment as of publication.
