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Prattville Pride has filed a motion in federal court to prevent the City of Prattville from blocking its participation in tomorrow night’s annual Christmas parade.
Local attorney Julia Collins served Gillespie notice of the injunction Thursday evening as citizens and city officials gathered for the traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
“Plaintiffs believe that the evidence in this action will show that the City of Prattville and Mayor Gillespie had no legitimate concerns or credible evidence of any threats to public safety, that no criminal investigation or charges were brought against any individuals threatening the safety of anyone at the ‘Christmas in Prattville Christmas Parade,’ and that the decision to remove Prattville Pride from the ‘Christmas in Prattville Christmas Parade’ is nothing more than the City of Prattville and Mayor Gillespie bowing to the pressure from extremists and hecklers in the community who oppose the views of Prattville Pride,” the group states in it’s motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
The motion comes just 25 hours before the Christmas parade, which begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6.
“We have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Prattville alleging violation of our first and fourteenth amendment rights and demanding redress by the city, We believe the law is clearly on our side and are hopeful that the injunction will be granted and we will still be able to participate in the parade. For those of you who planned on helping us build the float tomorrow, we are going to proceed with the hope that the injunction gets granted and we are all able to participate. We are so thankful for the support we have received.”
The request for preliminary injunction bears resemblance to a 2017 case in which U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins ruled that Auburn University could not cancel the speech of white nationalist Richard Spencer because of “safety concerns” due to threats of violence from individuals opposed to his presence on campus.
“The court finds that Auburn University cancelled the speech based on its belief that listeners and protest groups opposed to Mr. Spencer’s ideology would react to the content of his speech by engaging in protests that could cause violence or property damage,” Watkins wrote in his ruling. “However, discrimination on the basis of message content ‘cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment,’ and ‘[l]isteners’ reaction to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation.'”
Not only did Watkins require the university to allow the event to go on as planned, he ordered them to provide security and restricted the university’s ability to quell Spencer’s speech during the event.
“Security personnel may not cut off the free speech of Mr. Spencer or other persons except as a last resort to ensure security or to prevent violence or property damage, and only after first making ‘bona fide efforts to protect the speaker from . . . hostility by other, less restrictive means,”” Watkins wrote.
Andrew Odom, counsel for the City of Prattville, warned council members at their Tuesday night council meeting that taking any action that would engage in “prior restraint” of the group’s free speech would likely face “Constitutional challenges.”
“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.
Council members took no action at that time and it appeared that Prattville Pride would be allowed to remain in the parade, to the chagrin of Clean Up Alabama and like-minded residents who had called on the city to remove the float.
Clean Up Alabama released a statement Thursday condemning any threats of violence against the float or parade.
“We’ve been vocal about our concerns with Prattville Pride being allowed to sexualize the Prattville Christmas Parade, but threats and violence are unacceptable,” the group said in a release. “Clean Up Alabama does not condone threats or violence. We continue to pray for those we disagree with and hope the authorities will deal with this situation appropriately.”
Mayor Bill Gillespie made the call to remove the float Thursday morning after receiving an email from Prattville Pride Vice President Caryl Lawson asking for two police officers to escort the float due to concerns about targeting of the group.
“This morning, it was brought to the City’s attention from Prattville Pride that there are serious safety concerns regarding Prattville Pride’s participation in the Christmas parade,” Gillespie said in a statement. “Until today, there has only been conjecture and speculation regarding potential safety concerns that Prattville Pride’s participation in the parade may cause. The City will not put the rights of parade participants ahead of the safety of its citizens.”
Lawson’s email to Gillespie, Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson and Assistant Police Chief Jeff Hassell did not indicate specific threats to the parade and Prattville Pride did not voluntarily withdraw due to safety concerns.
