Naples Florida Pride Pushed Indoors

By Michael Mongera

A development for Naples City Pride spells alleged trouble for pride festivals this year. The Naples Pride Nonprofit Organization received imposed restrictions upon the Pride Festival for the 2025 season. The restrictions include that Drag performances must be held indoors rather than outside, no one under 18 is allowed to attend, and security detail that bloats the cost for the event to over $30,000.

A statement from the organization refers to the Supreme Court case Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement in which organizations are protected from fees based on crowd reactions and subjective criteria. Naples Pride defends that the subjectivity of these restrictions are a textbook example of viewpoint discrimination.

In contrast, Naples Pride personnel contacted the local police department for assurance that they were allowed to gather at Cambier's main stage in the center of Cambier Park. Not to mention, The Police Department's security plan meets the nationwide standards of best practices for safety.  Contrarily, the City still refused to host the Pride celebration outside.

This alleged occurrence of viewpoint discrimination spells trouble for the entire LGBTQ community nationwide as pride celebrations may gradually be forced to reside indoors or not at all.