A federal judge appointed by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term overturned an Alabama mayor's decision to pull an LGBTQ+ pride float from his city's Christmas parade Friday.
U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker Jr.'s decision required the City of Prattville to allow the local LGBTQ+ Pride group to participate in the annual event that same night.
Mayor Bill Gillespie had pulled the float on Thursday following safety concerns raised by Prattville Pride, but the group argued this went against their First and Fourth Amendment rights, as no action had been taken to investigate potential threats to their safety.
"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's injunction read.
According to the Judge's ruling Friday, seen by Newsweek, the group had simply asked the city council for additional security following "harmful actions to be taken" against them and their float should it appear in Friday's procession, including "possibly slashing the float's tires so that it could not roll down the three mile stretch of the parade route."
The city said these online comments were enough of a threat to prevent the group from participating, but the judge said the city provided no evidence that any of these threats could be carried out.
During a phone hearing Friday, the city admitted that it could easily provide two additional police officers to walk alongside the Prattville Pride float, which appeared to irk the judge.
"The Court struggles with how the City's decision to remove a law abiding parade participant could ever survive any level of scrutiny when the more easily tailored, and reasonable, response is to simply implement additional security measures, such as two or more law enforcement officers who can walk with the float on the parade route and make an arrest if an egg, water, or rock is thrown," he wrote in his decision.
Ahead of the parade stepping off, Prattville Pride posted on Facebook that the ruling was "a powerful affirmation of the importance of visibility, representation, and inclusion for all members of our community."
Not everyone supported the move, however. Some conservatives on social media said the float's inclusion was inappropriate.
"Gender ideology has no place in public events. Especially ones paid for by the taxpayer," Paul A. Syzpula, a conservative poster, said on X, formerly Twitter. "Shame on Judge Huffaker, Jr."
The Conservative Alternative argued that the case should be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on the grounds that freedom of religion was an important civil liberty.
"This is a public parade, put on by the city," X user @PkmnTrainerSeth replied. "By the standards of the Constitution, they *have* to let them participate, provided they're not breaking any laws."
Despite the protests, the parade went ahead Friday night, including the rainbow-decked pride float, seemingly without incident.
"A huge thank you to our incredible legal team and the federal judge who made it possible for us to march in this historic parade," the group posted on Facebook the following day.
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