Drag Event Controversy In My Old Stomping Grounds

Up in Monroe Country New York where I went to college in Rochester just weasel out of a law suit over Drag Queens.

Pittsford relents on security fee for drag story hour

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

By Justin Murphy

April 12, 2023

The town of Pittsford on Wednesday backed down on a demand for $8,500 in additional security costs for a drag story hour at the town community center following protests from the New York Civil Liberties Union, state legislators and town residents.

The nonprofit organization holding the event, Pittsford CommUNITY, earlier decided to relocate to Book Culture, a bookstore in the village of Pittsford, in the face of the security fee, and it will remain there this Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. There now will be another similar event at the community center next Sunday, April 23, also from 2 to 3 p.m.

Pittsford CommUNITY earlier this year reserved a room in the community center for an hourlong storytelling and children's event featuring three drag performers. After hearing from protesters, the town told the organization it would have to pay $8,500 for security and additional staffing due to "reasonable concerns for public safety."

That led to a heated community debate over the appropriateness of the event itself and also of the town's actions, including a remark by Supervisor Bill Smith that the organizers were "a group of people desperate to seek (victim status)."

Why did they back down?

Why? Because of a law suit, what else?

On April 9, attorneys from the NYCLU protested in writing to town leaders, calling the proposed fee a "prior restraint" — that is, a form of government censorship that blocks legally protected speech from occurring. They cited the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement, in which a Georgia county was barred from increasing its event permit fee to cover anticipated security costs related to a white nationalist rally.

"The town’s imposition of the proposed fee here — which went from $0 to $8,518 — is explicitly based on the content of CommUNITY’s message and on the hostility of anticipated protests, and it is therefore squarely prohibited by Forsyth," the NYCLU lawyers wrote.

And the town knew they were in the wrong.

But the town in their temper tantrum banned all functions from town property. According to Rochester First.com,

“The public is no longer allowed to reserve the Port of Pittsford gazebo and other open community spaces; new rules effectively preclude their use by nonprofits such as Pittsford CommUNITY,” the group’s statement reads. “‘Reservation for events to be publicly promoted to the general public are not allowed’ has been added to the recreation center room use rules and the Pavillion reservation rules. Additionally the wording is subjective and can now cause people to be prohibited from future facility use for breaking any rules.”

You see they want to make it our fault that everything is banned, they knew that they couldn’t defend their position in court so they banned everybody from it. Just like a ten year old who takes all his marbles away if he couldn’t get his way.

The D&C goes on to write,

"It is disappointing to see the efforts of our own elected government leaders stifle free expression within our community and erode community members’ sense of belonging," they wrote. "While there have been complaints about the event — many based on ignorance and mischaracterization — permitting the event and protest of the event allows necessary dialogue to happen within households and communities in a way that displacing the event will not."

[…]

Pittsford CommUNITY has said it will provide its own security for the events, and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office plans to monitor from outside.

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Let me digress for a moment.

Back in my college days (Winter of 1974) I had a run in with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office set up a roadblock for me when I ran a yellow light at 2 AM. Yup, you read that right.

I can around a corner there were two police cars across the deserted country road. One of the deputies came sauntering up to my car and said, “Boy, the sheriff want to talk to you.” and that is when I got a lecture on what a yellow light means (Hint: It does not mean to speed up.).

In reality they just were looking for an excuse to bust an out-of- state college kid. Booze? Drugs? That funny weed. My car had 1) Connecticut plates, 2) Skies on top of the car (We were coming back from Bristol Mountain Ski Resort, 3) A college decal on the back window making me a prime suspect for boozes or drugs.

Translated: Pittsford and Monroe County is Republican territory.