The lawsuit, brought by the ACLU of Florida and law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP on behalf of Naples Pride, argues the City of Naples has violated the First Amendment by prohibiting drag performances in their public parks
NAPLES, FL— Naples Pride has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Naples and its entities for denying the non-profit organization a special events permit to host a family-friendly drag performance in one of the city’s public parks as part of its annual Pridefest celebration.
The city’s refusal to grant a permit is part of a years-long effort to target drag performances and LGBTQ+ pride events in violation of the First Amendment. The organization, represented by the ACLU of Florida and law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, intends to seek a preliminary injunction to allow Naples Pride to host its drag performance in June 2025 on the mainstage of Cambier Park, the premier public space in downtown Naples.
Starting in 2023 and following the nationwide wave of anti-drag sentiment, the City of Naples made clear that Naples Pride’s permit application would be rejected if it sought to host a drag performance in an outdoor public space, citing their anti-drag views and after bolstering their constituents’ opposition to drag.
As a result, Naples Pride was forced to hold its 2023 and 2024 Pridefest drag performances in a small indoor venue that accommodated only a fraction of the performance’s typical audience. Forcing the performance indoors—as if it were something shameful—undermined the performance’s intended message of acceptance and living as an LGBTQ+ person without fear. Moreover, the reduced ticket sales to the performance caused a significant blow to Naples Pride’s fundraising and its ability to attract top-tier performing talent.
For 2025, Naples Pride hoped to return its drag performance outside on the mainstage, but Defendants rejected the request, and instead imposed unconstitutional burdens, including indoors-only and adults-only restrictions as well as an exorbitant security fee exceeding $30,000.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, argues the First Amendment forbids the City of Naples from burdening the protected speech of Naples Pride—and the ability of its willing audience to receive that speech—because some members of the Naples community disapprove of its message.
“Before the City, emboldened by anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, imposed unconstitutional burdens on Pridefest, Naples Pride was able to feature its family-friendly drag performance without issue for years,” said Samantha Past, LGBTQ+ Rights Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “The First Amendment ensures that viewpoint and content-based discrimination cannot infringe on freedom of speech and expression. Drag is an art form that holds great significance to the LGBTQ+ community both as a form of social commentary and celebration. Drag is constitutionally protected, even if someone doesn’t like it.”
In May 2023, Florida lawmakers enacted a law targeting drag performances, authorizing the State to revoke or suspend the operating and liquor licenses of any establishment that knowingly admits a minor, despite parental consent, to a drag performance. On June 23, 2023, a federal judge blocked Florida’s anti-drag law, finding that it likely violated the First Amendment, and it remains blocked until today. Here, the City imposed several additional restrictions beyond those required by the blocked state law.
“Drag is protected expression—full stop. Courts across the country have recognized as much. Yet the City of Naples has done everything it can to restrict our client’s Pridefest drag performance and keep it from going forward,” said Jonah M. Knobler, Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. “Naples has done this because a vocal contingent of its residents is offended by drag and by gender nonconformity itself. But the First Amendment prohibits Naples from making those private views into city policy by stifling our client’s protected expression. We look forward to vindicating our client’s rights in court and to seeing this year’s Pridefest celebration proceed free of these unlawful restrictions.”
"We made a promise to our entire community—that we would not stop fighting until we could all celebrate together, free, as a whole with a full heart; today, we are fulfilling that promise," said Cori Craciun, Executive Director, Naples Pride.
“We’ve been made to feel like a problem—just for existing, asking questions, and daring to exercise our constitutional rights, said Callhan Soldavini, Board Member and In-House Attorney, Naples Pride. “We’ve tried every other way to be heard. It wasn’t enough. So now, we’re taking this path. Pride began as a protest, and that spirit lives on through this lawsuit.”
Read the complaint here.
