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Andrew Odom, counsel for the City of Prattville, advised the city council Tuesday night not to take any action that would restrict the right of Prattville Pride to participate in the annual Christmas parade.
“Essentially, from the research that I’ve found, the city will face Constitutional challenges if it attempts to restrict Prattville Pride’s float,” Odom said.
Both Alabama and federal law safeguard against prior restraint of free speech, Odom said, with regulations on speech needing to be “narrowly tailored to meet a particular government interest.”
“My opinion, based on what I’ve seen so far, I would not advise the council to participate in any kind of prior restraint for speech that has not occurred yet,” Odom said.
The nonprofit Clean Up Alabama, originally founded to challenge LGBTQ+ books in the Autauga-Prattville Public Library, started an email campaign last week to push city leaders to remove Prattville Pride from the parade.
They pointed to a rule stated by the City of Prattville in its parade application that it has the right to reject “any float for any reason whatsoever.”
Several of the group’s leaders were there Tuesday night along with a handful of other citizens asking the council to reconsider allowing the float in.
Cindy Shaeffer, a recent Prattville transplant from Illinois, said hearing of the pride float in the parade “puts a bad taste in my mouth.”
“Like, really? Down here? I just think that sexual preferences should be, like, not in the Christmas parade,” Shaeffer said.
Christine Ross said allowing Prattville Pride to participate “has changed the entire makeup of the parade.”
“This is a traditional, small town, Alabama Christmas parade—and thank God for it,” Ross said. “I’m from up north; we know what it’s like. When you start to open those doors, you’ll never close it. This is not a good thing, folks. It’s diabolically opposed to traditional Christian Biblical beliefs, what they propose.”
“Opening a door” was a common theme among several speakers in opposition to Prattville Pride’s inclusion in the parade.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about opening the door,” said Will Sanchez, a founding member of Clean Up Alabama. “The slippery slope is there already; now the door is wide open.”
The leaders of Prattville Pride told the council that the claims by citizens alleging the float will be inappropriate for children are based on nothing but fear and prejudice.
“We want to be a trusted and respected part of this community, building bridges with all members of this city,” said Caryl Lawson, a cofounder of Prattville Pride. “Despite our track record, some have chosen to oppose us simply because of who we are. There is no reason to believe we would act inappropriately during this event. The goal is not to protect anyone, but to erase us entirely.”
Prattville Pride president Adam Hunt said the float will have only one drag queen, who will be seated and wearing a full evening gown—nothing that would be inappropriate or against the family-friendly nature of the parade.
“We not want to disrupt the parade … we’re not trying to turn the kids gay,” Hunt said. “We’re just here as citizens that want to be involved in the community. Whether people like it or not, we are part of this community and we shouldn’t have to hide … A lot of people who came up said they are Christians; maybe they should love more like God. Jesus would be walking in that parade with us 100 percent.”
Jessica Hayes said that the citizens expressing concern for the integrity of the parade never complained about the many years the local Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter, the Prattville Dragoons, have participated in city events including the parade.
“What about the Prattville dragoons participating in their Lost Cause cosplay,” Hayes asked. “I want them to think about the Black Prattville families that for 20 years have been told to watch as Confederate soldiers walk through parades flying the same flags that were flown when Black people were killed, and used as subtle threats and harbingers of racial violence.”
While the council shared the potential legal concerns of barring the float form the parade, Clean Up Alabama cofounder Sarah Sanchez told the council that they could still act.
“I’m troubled by the dueling visions being cast for the future of our city,” Sanchez said. “We lived in Puerto Rico for many years and at the church we attended, a Dominican pastor said something that stuck with me: ‘To want to is to be able to. If I want to, I am able to. If I don’t want to, I am not able to.’ … I know what I want … We’re watching and getting a picture of what is the desire from our officials here.”
With the council taking no action to the contrary, it appears that the Prattville Pride float will be among the many others at the Christmas parade on Friday. The city has at no point indicated that they would remove the float in response to the uproar.
