City agrees to keep
events secularA deal with the ACLU remedies
a complaint about a parade
with religious overtones
The city government must stay out of events or parades that "advance or inhibit" religion -- but it will pick up the tab for traffic control when a group parades to express a religious belief or other constitutionally protected speech, according to a court settlement detailed yesterday.
The agreement approved by U.S. Magistrate Kevin S.C. Chang provides that the city will waive police and traffic department costs for "First Amendment parades" such as the Gay Pride event last weekend and the Hawaii Christian Coalition's Kid's Parade July 3, said Deputy Corporation Counsel Greg Swartz.
The agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union settled two lawsuits filed on behalf of six residents and three gay rights organizations about Independence Day events last year.
City officials helped organize and plan a Hawaii Christian Coalition parade from which gays were banned. Christian messages were promulgated in booths and entertainment at the city-sponsored Family Day Festival at Kapiolani Park.
A third suit brought similar objections about a February event at Aala Park.
The city agreed to adopt rules that spell out separation of church and state and ban discrimination in public events.
"It's putting into a particular format what is already law in this country," Swartz said.
Among the details:
>> City-sponsored events must be secular.The city agreed to post a diversity statement on its Web site expressing respect for residents and visitors regardless of religion, gender identification and sexual orientation as well as race, ancestry, age and disability.>> City-sponsored events must be open to participation by all organizations.
>> If individuals or agencies -- for example, the mayor in a car, a police motorcycle unit -- join a parade, it does not imply city sponsorship.
>> Nothing prohibits a city worker from volunteering on his own time for any event.
"This is not an apology and we are not admitting wrongdoing," Swartz told reporters.
All the city did was to advertise the event on the city Web site, he said.
The city agreed to pay $85,000 for legal costs of the plaintiffs, considerably less than the ACLU sought, he said.
"We cannot change the past," said William Woods, of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Family Network. "We can move forward with concrete expectations that the city will be functioning for all of our citizens in accordance with law and justice."
The settlement will go to the City Council for approval.