Following the Starkville Board of Aldermen’s denial of a request to host an LGBT parade in the city, the community responded.
Starkville Pride has filed for injunction as of Monday. Local businesses expressed their support for the parade and the aldermen who voted in favor of denial have avoided all contact in regards to their reasoning for voting against the request.
Last week, the board voted 4-3 to deny the request, with Ben Carver of Ward 1, David Little of Ward 3, Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins and Henry Vaughn of Ward 7 voting in favor of the denial. Perkins called for the item to be pulled from its original place on the consent agenda.
Starkville Pride, an LGBT support group, planned to host the parade March 24, and Bailey McDaniel, the organization’s president, said she was saddened upon hearing the BOA’s vote.
“I was really shocked, and I was really upset,” McDaniel said. “I was obviously crying. I was just so hurt.”
At a Starkville Pride meeting held on Wednesday, MSU law professor Whit Waide spoke to attendees, stating the BOA had no reason to deny the group’s application request. He said since the application was properly filed and the event would not risk the public’s safety, the denial was a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi also released a statement outlining the constitutional violations, and called upon the city to “act swiftly” to reconsider and approve the request.
“The government cannot prevent a parade or event simply because it promotes LGBTQ pride or because its organizers and marchers are LGBTQ,” said ACLU of Mississippi Executive Director Jennifer Riley-Collins. “In addition, the government cannot treat people unequally because they are LGBTQ. This is exactly what the Board of Alderman did, and that is discrimination, plain and simple.”
The aldermen who voted to deny the request, as well as Starkville Attorney Chris Latimer, were unavailable for comment.
Also at the meeting Wednesday, McDaniel announced Starkville Pride’s plans to file for injunction against the city. She said a team of five lawyers are representing the organization for free, including attorney Roberta Kaplan, who argued against the Defense of Marriage Act.
McDaniel expressed she regrets the group has to go against the whole board, despite the three aldermen who voted in favor of having the parade. They were Sandra Sistrunk of Ward 2, Jason Walker of Ward 4 and Patrick Miller of Ward 5.
“I hated that what we were going to have to do was go against the entire Board of Aldermen, but I also knew that this was a chance to make a big difference,” McDaniel said.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, ever since the beginning of the issue, has voiced her disappointment of the vote’s outcome, using Twitter as a tool to state her position.
After the BOA meeting, Spruill tweeted, “This was not our finest hour and I am sorry that the message sent was the diminishment of the value of a large group of our most vulnerable and gentle citizenry. It was a parade, not a protest march, but that too could change.”
Spruill said parades are opportunities for groups to show solidarity with one another. Spruill said she participated in a variety of parades and has viewed Pride parades in the past.
“That was one of the things that I chose to run on as a part of what I wanted to do during my elected time here in the city—to have events and parades and things that are special, and that are highlighting a positive feel for the community and engagement in the community,” Spruill said.
Spruill said denying the Pride parade request was a missed opportunity for the city to portray itself as inclusive.
“That’s the reason I’m disappointed,” Spruill said. “I think it was a chance for us to show the diversity and the unity that we have in Starkville, and that it was an unfortunate decision that I wish we could have decided to rescind or that I wish had never been voted on in quite that way.”
The city’s businesses, however, decided they will show the city’s acceptance of the LGBT community. So far, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership released a statement of support, the Starkville Community Theatre decorated its front windows with rainbow colors and Eat Local Starkville restaurants put up stickers stating, “This business serves everyone.”
Pop Porium owner Rosa Dalomba said she would host a Pride celebration inside her establishment if the organization cannot have a parade.
Spruill said the support shown from the community is encouraging.
“I’m delighted that the businesses are supportive,” Spruill said. “I have long had a ‘We Don’t Discriminate’ sticker in my office, and I’m pleased that there are other businesses around town that have joined in supporting all of our residents in their inclusiveness, and their right to be in our community.”