Port St. Lucie, FL cancels Saturday's Pride parade and restricts event to 21 years and older

[Eugene]

Source: Treasure Coast

Port St. Lucie cancels Saturday's Pride parade and restricts event to 21 years and older

Gianna Montesano, Treasure Coast Newspapers
Thu, April 20, 2023 at 4:38 PM EDT

Port St. Lucie city officials have canceled Saturday's Pride parade and restricted event access to people 21 years and older because Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign SB1438 into law soon.

Pridefest is the first Pride event in Florida to be affected by the "Protection of Children" bill, which the House passed on April 19 and the Senate passed on April 12 to block establishments from allowing "a child" to see an "adult live performance," which LGBTQ advocates have long worried will have a chilling effect on drag shows.

Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast, which organizes the annual Pridefest, said they are "upset and disheartened" at the last-minute change, and some parents who had planned to take their children said they are angry. Pridefest has always been an all-age event and the community was excited to have the parade for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit the Treasure Coast in March 2020.

The event will be from noon to 6 p.m. at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Event Center in Port St. Lucie, with indoor and outdoor food, vendors and entertainment. Security will be checking identification to enforce the age restriction.

-snip-

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/port-st-lucie-cancels-saturdays-182951120.html

[Nictuku]

1. Don't they know that banning something will only make children /more/ curious?

Clowns.

[NCDem47]

2. Say I'm 20 years old

I'm a "child" in the eyes of the state in this matter??

Oh brother.

[obamanut2012]

3. You can be married with kids and have a mortgage

And can't do this. Think about that.

[ret5hd]

4. Defend your country...

carry a gun
drive a SUV
etc

[Trenzalore]

5. Chasing gay people out of Florida will do wonders for the economy

Florida will be like Alabama in a couple of years and half the US populace won't go there for tourism.

Also, major corporations will think twice about locating operations there after the Governor's little tantrum with Disney.

[Phoenix61]

6. Wait until DoD does the next round of BRAC.

A state that is actively hostile to LGBTQ AD members and their families, that restricts reproductive health care and trans health care is going to lose points. Throw in a crappy education system and they will lose more points. The financial impact of closing a base would be huge. Even pulling missions would have a huge impact.

BRAC- base realignment and closure.

[Ms. Toad]

7. Quintessential chilling effect on speech.

A parade - pretty darn close to pure expressive conduct - is cancelled because DeSantis is "expected to sign {the bill} into law soon."

In other words - it isn't the law yet. But the event was cancelled anyway. It is still legal (regardless of whether the law is constitutional).

Further - the law (once signed) is almost certainly DOA in any court that reviews it, as unconstitutional.

Had it already been signed into law, I could see cancellling the event. The who, when, and how of challenging an unconstitutional law is not always obvious. This event is not inherently the right event by which to challenge the law.

But the bill has not yet been signed. So go ahead and have the party! Frankly, if I were the organizers, I might even contemplate suing the city officials for violating the constitutional rights of the participants in the event. It is an even stronger case than challenging an obviously unconstitutional law, since there isn't even a law to challenge yet.