Constitutional Law

Philly OutFest Protestors Lose First Amendment Case

A group of anti-gay protestors arrested during Philadelphia’s 2004 OutFest gathering lost a First Amendment challenge to their arrests before a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Eleven protestors with the group Repent America were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct at the 2004 celebration of "National Coming Out Day" when they refused to abide police orders to move farther away from the OutFest festivities. The protestors were singing, playing instruments, carrying signs and using bullhorns and microphones to shout anti-gay invective, according to court documents.

Repent America’s Web site says it is a Philadelphia-based group devoted to serving the Lord and “reaching the lost, so that they might come unto the knowledge of the truth and be saved.” Even though the charges against the protestors were later dropped, they sued city officials arguing that their First Amendment rights had been violated.

Judge Dolores K. Sloviter, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, concluded that although the protestors did “possess a First Amendment right to communicate their message in a public forum,” that right did not “encompass the right to cause disruption.” The court’s July 15 opinion in Startzell v. City of Philadelphia is available here.    

Full post as published by ACS Blog on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).