The Tennessee city of Murfreesboro has revoked its ban on
public homosexuality, but the rules it still has in place continue to
unfairly target LGBTQ people.
Murfreesboro passed
an ordinance in June banning “indecent behavior,” including “indecent
exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct.”
The ordinance specifically mentions Section 21-72 of the city code, which states that sexual conduct includes homosexuality.
The
city agreed on November 2, following a court order, to remove the
mention of homosexuality from the city code, but the change has not yet
been codified. Journalist Erin Reed reported
that the amended code will go into effect on Friday. But as of
publication, homosexuality is still listed as an act of public indecency
on the Murfreesboro municipal code website.
Meanwhile,
the June ordinance is still in effect and being used to unfairly target
the LGBTQ community. An ACLU-backed challenge to the ordinance has
already been launched, but that hasn’t stopped city officials from
implementing the measure.
While the indecency ordinance does not specifically mention LGBTQ people, it is similar to the many drag bans passed across the country, all of which were ultimately blocked
in court. The ordinance relies on overly vague language to frighten
people into self-policing, and it hides behind the justification of “public decency” and protecting children. And the way it has been implemented makes it clear that the ordinance’s intended target is LGBTQ people.
City
police also have the right to enforce the ordinance, meaning the rules
are up to individual interpretation. As long as the city code still
officially says homosexuality is banned, a strict or more
conservative officer could target LGBTQ people.
Last
week, the Rutherford County steering committee met to discuss removing
all books that might potentially violate the ordinance from the public
library. Murfreesboro city officials have already used the ordinance to
ban four books that discuss LGBTQ themes.
In October, the organizers of BoroPride, the city’s Pride festival, won a court order
barring Murfreesboro from enforcing the ordinance against Pride events.
The court order also required that the city remove the mention of
homosexuality from its public indecency code.
“Of course, they only did that after the judge slapped them down,” BoroPride volunteer Matt Ferry told the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal. “The
problem is that the mayor and the city manager keep equating LGBTQ+
with actual sex predators, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“It’s
hurting our LGBTQ+ community,” Ferry said. “It’s intimidating them.
They were already afraid to come out in the open in Murfreesboro. This
is going to make it worse.”