The Blount Country Pride Festival was held on Saturday as planned. Blount county pride festival was held as planned on Saturday. Desmond wrote:
Having received numerous communications from law enforcement, local officials, and concerned citizens, the Blount County District Attorney’s Office is aware of a coming event planned for September 2, 2023 that is marketing itself in a manner which raises concerns that the event may violate certain criminal statutes within the state of Tennessee. Desmond wrote:
Having received numerous communications from law enforcement, local officials, and concerned citizens, the Blount County District Attorney’s Office is aware of a coming event planned for September 2, 2023 that is marketing itself in a manner which raises concerns that the event may violate certain criminal statutes within the state of Tennessee.
Desmond went on to state that his office believed the recent judicial ruling finding the AEA unconstitutional only applied to Shelby County, Tennessee, and that his office would prosecute festival organizers and attendees if they violated the law.
The organizers of the Blount Pride Festival and drag queen Matthew Lovegood, who performs as Flamy Grant and performed at the festival filed suit against Desmond with the assistance of the ACLU. The ACLU claimed that Desmond misinterpreted the ruling. Judge Greer granted a temporary restraining to prevent Desmond from interfering with the Blount pride festival. Greer ruled the plaintiffs had all the criteria for a temporary restraining orders. They have standing and are likely to win the case on its merits due to previous victories against the AEA. There would also be irreparable harm to plaintiffs’ first amendment rights if an order was not issued. Greer wrote: “
The State should be free to arrest and prosecute plaintiffs on a retroactive basis if they violated the Act during this festival and do not ultimately prevail on the merits in this suit.” The obtainment of a temporary restraining order is therefore not without hazard to Plaintiffs, and the specter of prosecution, which this suit does not necessarily erase, lessens if not eliminates the prospective harm to the State that District Attorney Desmond complains of.
Representative Zoe Zephyr of Montana, the first trans person elected to the Montana House who made headlines after she was barred from the House floor, attended the festival, stating:
[T]The First Amendment rights of individuals wins at the end. The First Amendment rights of individuals won in the end. We saw this with the drag laws in Montana, and we saw it in Tennessee before the letter was sent out. The judge said yes, it does apply to you. The judge said that we can have our own events, our First Amendment rights will be protected and we can celebrate our differences with each other.