When we are talking about the "public square" there is a distinction which is drawn between places where the general public has the right to speak, and those where they don't.
For example, you don't have the right to just walk into Congress and start addressing the House of Representatives or the Senate.
But you do have the right to stand on a soapbox on the Washington Mall and talk as loudly as you'd like to passersby - who have no obligation to stop and listen to you.
Just think of the Nazis being allowed to parade in Skokie - the city of Skokie gave everybody else a permit, so they could not ban the Nazis. That doesn't mean that Skokie likes Nazis, or that Skokie is promoting or endorsing Nazism.
I don't know anything about Denver Civic Ventures, Inc. but it sounds like a sort of Chamber of Commerce type thing - a private civic group.
Do private civic organizations which use the public streets for parades have the right to decide who can join their parade?
For example, can Gay Pride organizations force St. Patrick's Day Parades to allow them to march?
Can NAMBLA force the Boy Scouts to let them participate in Boy Scout parades?
If your answer is no, then I'd have to say that Christian groups can't force participation, either.
Note for the reading-impaired -- I don't equate Christianity with Nazism, Gay Pride or NAMBLA, except that all have the same right to free speech in America, like it or not.
My mantra: "Rights are funny things. You have to protect all of them, not just some of them, otherwise you'll lose them all." |
