Find Court Cases > Hurley v. Irish American GLIB Association

Hurley v. Irish American GLIB Association

Case Date: 04/25/1995
Docket No: none

Facts of the Case 

In 1993, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council was authorized by the city of Boston to organize the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The Council refused a place in the event for the Irish American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (GLIB). The group attempted to join to express its members' pride in their Irish heritage as openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals. The Massachusetts State Court ordered the Veterans' Council to include GLIB under a state law prohibiting discrimination on account of sexual orientation in public accommodations. The Veterans' Council claimed that forced inclusion of GLIB members in their privately-organized parade violated their free speech.

Question 

Did a Massachusetts State Court's mandate to Boston's Veterans' Council, requiring it to include GLIB members in its parade, violate the Council's free speech rights as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments?

Argument Hurley v. Irish American GLIB Association - Oral ArgumentFull Transcript Text  Download MP3Hurley v. Irish American GLIB Association - Opinion AnnouncementFull Transcript Text  Download MP3 Conclusion  Decision: 9 votes for Hurley, 0 vote(s) against Legal provision: Amendment 1: Speech, Press, and Assembly

Yes. A unanimous court held that the State Court's ruling to require private citizens who organize a parade to include a group expressing a message that the organizers do not wish to convey violates the First Amendment by making private speech to the public accommodation requirement. Such an action "violate[s] the fundamental First Amendment rule that a speaker has the autonomy to choose the content of his own message and, conversely, to decide what not to say."