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JAMIE THOMPSONThe Pinellas transit authority settles a Christian group's suit claiming a violation of its First Amendment rights.
An evangelical Christian group will be allowed to advertise its upcoming antigay conference on posters in Pinellas County bus shelters under a settlement reached Tuesday, the group said.
Focus on the Family of Colorado sued after its ads promoting a previous conference, "Love Won Out," were pulled from local bus shelters in 2000. The conference advocates that homosexuality can be "prevented" and overcome through prayer.
The posters, though hung initially, were pulled after they were deemed inappropriate and offensive to gays.
The group then sued the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, claiming a violation of First Amendment rights.
A judge in Tampa threw out the lawsuit, then a federal appeals court reversed the judge's decision, sending it back for review.
Under the "amicable settlement" finalized Tuesday, the PSTA and sign contractor Clear Channel Outdoor refined its policies to allow the group to advertise when the seminar returns to the Tampa Bay area, possibly within the next year, said Mathew D. Staver, an Orlando attorney who handled the case for Focus on the Family.
"The First Amendment protects freedom of speech - all speech - even speech some might disagree with," Staver said.
Monetary damages were neither sought nor awarded, Staver said.
Representatives of the transit authority and Clear Channel could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
While private companies can usually reject advertisements they don't like, this case focused on whether a government entity working through a private company could do so.
An agreement between PSTA and Clear Channel, which handles advertising at the bus shelters, gives Clear Channel the right to maintain PSTA shelters as well as accept and decline advertisements. The policy will be tweaked because of the lawsuit, Staver said.
The ad in question read: "Love won out. Addressing, understanding and preventing homosexuality in our youth." Focus on the Family was refunded nearly $5,000 for the ads.
Tom Minnery, vice president of Focus on the Family, said he was pleased with the settlement. "We look forward to coming to the Tampa area again and advertising our conference fully," he said.
About 27,000 people have attended 30 such conferences in cities around the country, Minnery said. Pinellas County is the only place in the nation where conference advertisements were banned, he said.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.