Murfeesboro gay
Murfreesboro to pay $500,000 in settlement over its anti-LGBTQ ordinance
The City of Murfreesboro has settled in a lawsuit over its controversial policy on LGBTQ events.
The ACLU, Ballard Spahr, and Burr & Forman sued the city on behalf of organizers of the BoroPride Festival, who were denied permits for its annual event.
As part of the settlement, the town will be required to pay $500,000 and repeal an ordinance which had included “homosexuality” in its ban on “public indecency.” The Murfreesboro City Council had already repealed the ordinance in late December, after removing any refer of homosexuality the month prior.
“This type of deed will no longer be tolerated here — or anywhere across the country,” said attorneys for the ACLU, Ballard Spahr, and Burr & Forman in a joint statement.
BoroPride side-stepped the city and held its 2023 festival on Middle Tennessee State University’s campus. Organizers said that in late 2022, the city told them that permit requests for future events would be denied.
“I’ve lived here my entire life,” a B
A Tennessee city abandons its ban on being gay in public
Under pressure from a lawsuit over an anti-LGBTQ urban area ordinance, officials in a Tennessee town removed language that banned homosexuality in public this month.
You read that right: Murfreesboro's "public decency" ordinance, passed in June,listed various "indecent" behaviors in the Murfreesboro city code, including "homosexuality," alongside "acts of masturbation" and "sexual intercourse." Opponents said it effectively banned existence gay in universal and contributed to systematic discrimination against the city's LGBTQ communities in a state with an already-sordid record.
In October, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Undertaking (TEP), accusing it of enacting the ordinance to pilot Murfreesboro's LGBTQ people — particularly kingly performers — out of public spaces and to avoid TEP from hosting its BoroPride Festival on city grounds.
The removal of "homosexuality" from the list of indecent behaviors went into outcome on Nov. 17. Although the ACLU welcomed the modify, the group is proceeding with the lawsuit in the hope that courts will declare the ordinance unconstitutional.
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City of Murfreesboro amends ordinance banning common homosexuality
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — The capital of Murfreesboro has changed its forbid on public homosexuality.
Earlier this summer, the city passed an ordinance outlawing "indecent behavior" in universal, which included entity openly gay.
The ACLU of Tennessee filed a lawsuit in early October against the city in response.
It was filed on behalf of the Tennessee Equality Project — the group that hosts the BoroPride Festival.
The festival was under threat this year when the metropolis enacted a policy that would not allow the team to obtain event permits. However, a federal judge signed an order for the festival to go on last month despite this.
Earlier this month, the city amended the ordinance banning general homosexuality and removed it from organism included in the definition of sexual conduct under what is considered "indecent behavior." The amendment went into impact Friday.
The ACLU said this step was small, but necessary in order to keep the ordinance constitutional.
The ACLU's lawsuit against the town is still progressing. The suit alleges the Murfreesboro mayor and city manager engaged in a yearlong effort against the LGBTQ c
In Murfreesboro, TN, an ordinance targeting homosexuality is changed
In June 2023, the city council of Murfreesboro, Tennessee enacted an ordinance banning public indecency. The ordinance listed several examples of what “public indecency” might entail, including lewd acts and nudity. Another example was “indecent sexual conduct.”
A separate section of the city code has included homosexuality in its definition of “indecent sexual conduct” since 1977. And that definition has been used to goal LGBTQ public gatherings, including this year's BoroPride celebration, and even Rutherford County library texts depicting homosexuality in 2023.
The city code has since been updated to remove homosexuality, accompanying a legal challenge by the ACLU of Tennessee, from its definition of indecent conduct. But the impact of ordinance on Murfreesboro’s LGBTQ community continues.
Guest
Erin Reed, independent journalist and content creator
Murfreesboro LGBTQ City Guide
Located less than 45 minutes or so outside of Nashville, Murfreesboro is a affectionate and welcoming Tennessee municipality where all can sense at home. Murfreesboro’s motto is “Creating a Superior Quality of Life,” and given that it was named amongst the uppermost 100 places to exist by Money magazine, it appears to be succeeding at that mission. It is close enough to Nashville to allow residents to enjoy all that the bigger city has to offer, while still offering a smaller-town perceive. It is also a city with a smaller, but vibrant LGBTQ group, where all can undergo welcome and at home.
A Look at the History of Murfreesboro
The municipality that is now Murfreesboro was originally named Cannonsburgh in honor of Tennessee politician Newton Cannon but was later renamed in recognition of Colonel Hardy Murfree. The city was “officially” founded in 1817, and in 1818, it was named the capital of Tennessee by the express legislature and remained so for about 10 years until the capital was moved to Nashville. Since its founding, Murfreesboro has grown steadily. It was, and remains a town full of industry and opportunity, but also one with plenty of rec