The town of North Brookfield, Mass. has stripped its Select Board of approval power for future events in local parks as part of a settlement in a recent lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Massachusetts. The suit came after the Select Board repeatedly tried to block local LGBTQ+ Pride events if drag queens were to perform at them.
The town also agreed to pay damages and attorneys’ fees as part of the settlement.
The ACLU pursued the legal action earlier this year even after the Select Board reversed their initial decision to deny the application for this year’s Pride event — just as they’d done the year before following a similar suit from the ACLU.
Reports MassLive.com:
In November, two of the three members of the Select Board refused to approve the Rural Justice Network’s application to hold a 2024 Pride event on the town common on June 29, the second time the board had attempted to block the event over its inclusion of a drag performance. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit in December on behalf of Rural Justice Network, and in February, the town’s Parks and Recreation Committee voted to approve the event.
The town has stripped the Select Board of its power to approve future events in local parks and will pay damages and attorneys’ fees as part of the settlement, according to the ACLU.
“We are pleased for the assurance that this settlement affords our clients, as well as compensation for harms caused by the unlawful interference by two Select Board members,” said Ruth Bourquin, senior managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, in a statement Monday. “North Brookfield has now taken steps we hope will ensure that groups like the Rural Justice Network can exercise their right to express themselves equally and openly in public spaces. We look forward to celebrating Small Town Pride this year and for many years to come.”
Read the complete MassLive.com story here.
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