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North Brookfield sued for attempting to block Pride event again this year over drag show
The Board of Selectmen chose to not approve the Rural Justice Network's request because of a planned drag show, prompting a civil suit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the town of North Brookfield for attempting to block a local group from hosting their annual Pride event next summer.
The ACLUM filed the suit on Monday on behalf of the Rural Justice Network, the organization behind the Small Town Pride event slated for next June. It names the Town of North Brookfield, its Board of Selectman Chair Jason Petraitis, and Vice Chair John Tripp as defendants.
The Board of Selectmen did not return a request for comment.
The complaint, submitted in Worcester Superior Court, said the town’s withholding of approval is due to the Petraitis’s and Tripp’s “personal views that any public ‘drag show’ is ‘wrong.’”
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The RJN, a nonprofit headquartered in North Brookfield, submitted a request for resources ahead of their June planned event to the Board of Selectmen in October.
At the board’s meeting on Nov. 7, a representative for RJN faced a line of questioning from Petraitis that his fellow selectman Elizabeth Brooke Canada said ran afoul of town policy.
“And your plan is to have the drag performers again?” he asked the RJN representative around 26 minutes into the meeting. “You plan on having any kind of tent for them to perform in, or are you still going to be out in the open again like last time?”
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The RJN representative said the drag performers would be present, and a tent would only be used in case of rain.
“Well, you can get the approvals from the other people, but the same thing is going to happen this year that happened last year,” Petraitis said. “I’m not voting for it. Okay, I’m just not. If you’re not going to have that stuff hidden from kids, I’m not voting for it.”
“That’s not part of the Parks and Rec policy, though,” Canada said.
“I really could care less,” Petraitis replied.
Canada then made a motion to approve the group’s request for June 29, which neither Tripp nor Petraitis seconded. The representative for RJN said, “I’m not sure what just happened.”
“It means nothing happens,” Petraitis said. “It doesn’t go forward.”
What happened last year?
The Board of Selectmen’s attempt to hinder the local Pride event in 2023 received national coverage. The town went back and forth with the RJN, rescinding a previous approval because of the drag show.
“I just don’t understand how it can be family friendly, because I believe it is adult entertainment. And if you want to see me in a Speedo go down to the playground, that’s adult entertainment,” Tripp said at an April 11, 2023 Board of Selectmen meeting. “Whatever they’re doing is wrong in my mind.”
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By April 25, the ACLUM and town counsel agreed that prohibiting the drag show was unlawful, prompting the board to reinstate their approval. Canada was the only member who voted in favor. Petraitis and Tripp abstained.
RJN’s past events have “included performance intended to be appropriate for all ages in which individuals dress in clothing normally associated with a gender different than the gender assigned them at birth and lip-sync and dance to recorded popular songs,” the ACLUM’s complaint said.
The Small Town Pride event went on as planned on June 24, 2023, including drag performances in the Town Common not obscured by a tent. The filed complaint included a video of one of the performances.
The RJN submitted their request for the 2023 event in January of this year. The town’s unlawful restrictions hindered their event’s success with vendors and performers, their complaint said. They submitted their request earlier this year in case of similar obstacles.
“Because of the actions of the Individual Defendants, members of RJN are being thrust, once again, into the center of a controversy — which they do not seek or desire — that forces them to grapple, once again, with the fact that they are not fully and equally welcome in their communities,” the ACLUM wrote.
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