Eagle Forum of Alabama, a conservative Christian activist organization, sued the Tuscaloosa Public Library Board of Directors and City of Tuscaloosa last Tuesday for allegedly banning the group from meeting in the library’s Rotary Room. Eagle Forum is being represented in court by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that sued the University on the behalf of a libertarian student organization in 2021 and successfully challenged and overturned Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court in 2023
Eagle Forum is also suing every member of the library’s board of directors individually; Jennifer Pearson, director of TPL; Amy Patton, the library’s deputy director; Mary Buntin, an employee of the library; the County of Tuscaloosa; and the City of Northport.
The suit alleges that Pearson and Patton enforced “unconstitutional policies” against Eagle Forum, which were written by the Board of Directors, and that Buntin “personally issued communications citing the unconstitutional policy to exclude Eagle Forum.”
Becky Garritson, executive director of Eagle Forum of Alabama, said in a statement to The Crimson White that the Tuscaloosa Public Library discriminated against the group by unconstitutionally prohibiting its access to a public space, shutting down the possibility for open dialogue in the community.
“Religious Americans should never be treated as second-class participants in public life,” Garritson said.
Eagle Forum alleged in its complaint that the Tuscaloosa Public Library, after previously granting its reservation to use the Rotary Room, “denied Eagle Forum the benefit of reserving the Rotary Room because Eagle Forum is a religious organization that seeks to practice and share its religious beliefs.”
The Tuscaloosa Public Library’s reservation policy for the Rotary Room, included as an exhibit in the suit, prohibits religious groups from meeting there for “the purpose of preaching or otherwise demonstrating the beliefs of their members.” Eagle Forum alleges that this unlawfully burdens its freedom of religion under the Alabama Religious Freedom Act and violates the First Amendment and Equal Protection clause of the United States Constitution.
Eagle Forum said it had previously been allowed to use the library to screen a political documentary, according to the lawsuit, despite being an outwardly religious organization. According to the complaint, Eagle Forum opens and closes every meeting with a prayer and incorporates scripture into its activities. The group’s website says it has been “leading the pro-family, conservative movement since 1972” and lists “religious liberty” among its key issues.
An exhibit attached to the lawsuit shows that Buntin sent an email on July 11 to Linda Berty, one of the leaders of Eagle Forum of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa Action Group, saying that the group wouldn’t be permitted to use the Rotary Room due to the “current political and social climate.”
Patton later emailed Berty about the problem, specifically citing the library’s policy towards religious groups for the cancellation of Eagle Forum’s reservations.
Tuscaloosa Public Library Board of Directors did not respond to request for comment.
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