Hurley v irish american gay group of boston
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Case Analysis
Case Summary and Outcome
The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced the First Amendment protections of private speakers, finding that confidential parade organizers could not be forced by state regulation to include participant organizations whose letter they did not wish to incorporate. The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, refused to allow GLIB, a gay rights group, to march in the annual St. Patrick’s Day and Evacuation Day Parade; GILB sued the Council for violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Massachusetts’ state constitution and a state widespread accommodations law. In its r
UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal
Abstract
The appropriation and use of others' speech - through quotation, compilation, or republication - is ubiquitous; however, traditional First Amendment jurisprudence is often at a decline when it confronts "speech selection judgments." In this Comment, the Authors explore the phenomenon of speech selection, and the attributes of speaking and communication that may account for its status as speech under the First Amendment. The Authors then study the Supreme Court's reasoning in a single case, Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Double attraction Group of Boston, according to four different theories of speech and communication; in order to comment on ambiguities inherent in the nature of speech selection judgments, and the implicit in the Court's decision.
Recommended Citation
Randall P. Bezanson and Michele Choe, Speaking Out of Thin Air: A Comment on Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Pansexual Group of Boston, 25 UC Law SF Comm. & Ent. L.J. 149 (2002).
Free at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol25/iss1/4
NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the view is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Writer of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Lumber Co.,200 U.S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
v. IRISH AMERICAN Lgbtq+, LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL Organization OF BOSTON et al.
certiorari to the supreme judicial court of massachusetts
No. . Argued -- Decided
Petitioner South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, an unincorporated association of individuals elected from various veterans groups, was authorized by the city of Boston to organize and conduct the St. Patrick's Day Evacuation Day Parade. The Council refused a place in the 1993 event to respondent GLIB, an group formed for the purpose of marching in the parade in order to express its members' lgbtq+ fest in their Irish heritage as openly gay, woman loving woman, and bisexual individuals, to show that there are such individuals in the community, and to assist the like men and women who sought to march in the
JOHN J. HURLEY AND SOUTH BOSTON ALLIED WAR VETERANS COUNCIL v. IRISH-AMERICAN GAY, LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL GROUP OF BOSTON, ETC., et al.
Legal Concept at Issue
Whether the court-mandated inclusion of the Irish-American Homosexual, Lesbian, and Bisexual person Group of Boston, Inc. (GLIB) in Boston’s 1993 St. Patrick’s Day march violated the First Amendment rights of the private community, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, that the city of Boston authorized to set up the parade.
Action
The Supreme Court of the United States dictated in favor of the Council, reversing the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Facts/Syllabus
Since 1947, the city of Boston has authorized the Council, a private group, to organize the city’s St. Patrick’s Morning parade. The Council did not acknowledge GLIB to the 1993 parade claiming such an admission would violate the parade’s “traditional religious and social values.” Massachusetts courts required the Council to admit GLIB based on a articulate public-accommodation law.
Importance of Case
In contrast with the Massachusetts courts, the Supreme Court held that that the parade was a discernible expressive act and reaffirming that “all speech inh