"A Florida lesbian couple is suing the city of Key West after officials threatened to fine them for painting part of their picket fence rainbow to protest the city's removal of Pride crosswalks. Nicole "Coley" Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn painted 12 pickets of the fence in rainbow colors after the city complied with Gov. Ron DeSantis 's (R) directive to eliminate the rainbow intersections. Their protest inspired others around the city to do the same, resulting in threats of a $250-per-day fine for anyone who did not return their fences to white, the only color allowed on wood fences by the Key West Historic Architectural Review Commission (HARC)."
"The couple ultimately did repaint their fence white, as did most of the others, to avoid the fines. But with the help of the ACLU of Florida, they are now arguing that the city is guilty of "selectively enforcing its ordinance code against them, based on the content and viewpoint of their expression." "While the City eagerly enforced its Historic District regulations against Plaintiffs' colorful protest, it has chosen not to cite noncompliant properties that express different messages," the lawsuit states."
""Indeed, numerous fences and other exterior structures in the Historic District are out of compliance with the same HARC Guidelines cited against Plaintiffs, but these other violations have not faced enforcement." The suit also pointed out that "the only fence- and gate-color violations the City has cited in recent years have been Plaintiffs' and their co-protestors' rainbow displays." The suit also provides a series of photographs to prove that numerous other homes violate HARC guidelines."
A Florida lesbian couple painted 12 pickets of a fence in rainbow colors to protest Key West’s removal of Pride crosswalks. City officials threatened them with a $250-per-day fine unless the fence was repainted white, the only color allowed for wood fences under Historic Architectural Review Commission guidelines. The couple repainted their fence white to avoid penalties, and many other residents did the same after similar threats. With help from the ACLU of Florida, they claim the city selectively enforced its ordinance based on the content and viewpoint of their expression. They allege other noncompliant fences and exterior structures in the historic district were not cited, and that only rainbow displays had been enforced recently.
#lgbtq-rights #freedom-of-expression #local-government-enforcement #historic-district-regulations #aclu
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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