A federal appeals court has ruled that a sexually explicit drag show cannot perform next to a playground in Naples, Florida.

The ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals occurred a day before the drag show’s official performance date, which was June 7, during LGBTQ Pride month.

In April, Naples Pride, the group sponsoring the event, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit against the city after city officials ruled by a 5-2 vote that Naples Pride should conduct its Pride events behind closed doors and for an adult-only audience. The ruling was in response to the group’s 2022 drag show held in Cambier Park, 100 feet away from a children’s playground, where male performers were reportedly “in obscene drag performing lewd poses and simulating sexual acts that are unsuitable for minors” and “mimicking sexual activities no child should ever see,” according to a press release from Liberty Counsel, a Christian-based nonprofit law firm.

To protect children from viewing the explicit content, the city moved the event indoors and restricted it to an adult-only audience.

In May, U.S. District Judge John Steele ruled in favor of Naples Pride, which called the event “family friendly.” The case then went to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and with a 2-1 vote, the court overturned the lower court’s ruling.

The 11th Circuit ruling acknowledged that the Naples Pride event was a limited public forum, which means constraints on speech cannot discriminate on the basis of viewpoints and “must be reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum.”

But the court also ruled that Naples Pride’s First Amendment rights were not violated because restricting the event to an indoor area away from children and constraining the event to adults only was due to safety concerns and not directed at Naples Pride’s views.

The ruling also states that “Naples Pride will not be substantially injured by a stay because it can hold the drag performance under the same two permit conditions that applied to the last two performances, in 2023 and 2024.”

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, commended the ruling.

“The First Amendment does not require any city to provide its public spaces for every type of expressive conduct under every condition preferred by the speaker,” Staver said. “The First Amendment does not protect an obscene drag performance in full view of a children’s playground. Putting indoor and age restrictions on this event, as a limited public forum, passes constitutional muster in the interest of public safety. Citizens do not have to tolerate obscene drag shows in view of their children.”

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