Christian Group Excluded From Pagan Pride Festival Sues

In Grand Rapids, Michigan earlier this week, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit in federal district court on behalf of David Ickes and seven other members of the Worldwide Street Preachers' Fellowship who were prevented by police from preaching to a crowd gathered in a public park for a Pagan Pride Festival. (Press release.) The complaint (full text) in Worldwide Street Preachers' Fellowship v. City of Grand Rapids, claims that city ordinances requiring a permit for public speeches and religious meetings in any public park, as well as the city's disorderly conduct ordinance, violate plaintiffs' First Amendment rights. Plaintiffs' memorandum in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction is also available online.