A Florida city fined a lesbian couple over a rainbow fence. Now they’re suing

Many Key West residents protested Florida’s removal of a rainbow crosswalk by painting their fences in the same colors, only to be met with city fines. Now, a federal lawsuit backed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenges that punishment on First Amendment grounds.

Coley Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn repainted 12 pickets at their Old Town home, inspiring similar protests throughout the city. But code complaints with the city prompted Key West officials to cite the lesbian couple, with the threat of $250 fines each day until the fence was repainted white.

Now, the ACLU said that equates to political censorship.

“The government cannot enforce a law against people who express particular messages or views, while ignoring violations with different content or messages,” said ACLU of Florida attorney Nicholas Warren. “That’s selective enforcement, and it’s illegal. We’ll see the city in court.”

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Sohn, a filmmaker whose work has appeared at Sundance, and her wife painted the stakes after the Key West City Commission voted 4-2 to comply with demands from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to remove all decorated sidewalks. That followed a directive from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to remove rainbow sidewalks over disputed claims that they posed public safety risks.

“To protest the city’s removal of the rainbow crosswalks, we painted some of our fence pickets in rainbow colors, showing that our community still stands for inclusion,” Sohn said. “No one should lose their right to speak out simply because those in power disagree with the message, and the government can’t single out some views over others, deciding how to enforce its laws. That’s what the First Amendment protects us from.”

While more than 50 homeowners in Key West followed the example of the Bagley-Sohn household, the city cited the couple after receiving a complaint from Penny Walker-Pourciau, a neighbor who has posted anti-LGBTQ messages on social media, according to the lawsuit.

Sohn and Bagley-Sohn applied to the city in December for a permit to paint the fence pickets rainbow colors, but the city, in February, determined the display violated the code because the fence was no longer painted in an approved color.

The couple painted the fence posts white on March 26 to avoid further fines. Now, most residents with painted fences have done the same, the lawsuit said.

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But the lawsuit notes that many homes in Key West have doors and shutters painted in colors that don’t comply with city code, including the very colors used in the rainbow fence pickets. Pictures in the federal complaint show examples around the city that never attracted code enforcement’s attention.

That suggests it’s the use of the colors in a familiar pattern associated with the rainbow flag and the LGBTQ rights movement that triggered enforcement, according to the lawsuit. Like the removal of crosswalks, the complaint argues, this suggests political motivation behind the city’s actions.

“The forced removal of rainbow crosswalks and Pride-related street art across the state reveals the threat Florida leaders have unleashed on free expression. Allowing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to escalate into censorship is an act of state overreach that should concern everyone,” said Samantha Past, ACLU of Florida attorney.

“The Bagley-Sohn family have bravely and creatively protested the state’s attempt to erase LGBTQ+ identities and exercised their First Amendment rights on behalf of their community and the constitutional freedoms that protect us all.”