Can Miami Beach Pride Parade legally exclude Republican Rep. Besabe? It’s complicated | Opinion

Decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided an important case involving competition for the mantle of protection of First Amendment rights. The case has direct relevance for this week’s Miami Beach Pride festival and parade.

The high court made it clear that organizers of a private event — specifically the St. Patrick’s Day Parade through the streets of Boston — are protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to free expression and association. This principle grants parade organizers the right to control the message they want to convey, which also includes the authority to include or exclude messages that they find to be consistent or inconsistent with the purpose of their event.

Miami Beach Pride, which includes the annual Pride Parade scheduled for Sunday, April 14, however, appears to be operating in a murkier posture of private-public sponsorship. For example, a city resolution refers to a “partnership” between Miami Beach Gay Pride, Inc. and the city of Miami Beach, and the city manager appears to have the final authority to reject anyone’s participation in the event.

Future local event organizers may wish to take note of this controversy as they consider how to cautiously craft a partner relationship with various governmental agencies and how much authority they cede to agencies of government. Depending on the arrangement, legal obligations may kick in that could prevent organizers from controlling the central message of their event.

Nevertheless, regardless of the complexities of the arrangement governing the Miami Beach Pride festival and parade, the private-public partnership and government sponsorship does not appear to have converted the event into a government-created public forum that would be open to all points of view. Absent the creation of a public forum, which does not appear to be the case here, organizers may limit participation consistent with the theme of the event.

Many would prefer that the state representative who is being excluded from the parade — state Rep. Fabian Besabe, a Miami Beach Republican — be allowed to participate so that, as a member of a legislature that is notoriously hostile to civil liberties and LGBTQ+ rights and with his voting record that is regarded as hostile to LGBTQ+ equality, he could be roundly booed by his critics.

But what some prefer may not be legally required.

Howard Simon is interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 2:36 PM.