ACLU Sues Indiana Town Again Over New Ordinance Targeting Pride Festival

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has launched two new legal actions against the City of Loogootee, alleging that local officials are again trying to block an annual LGBTQ+ Pride festival from the town’s central public square in violation of a standing federal court order and the First Amendment.

On December 30, 2025, the ACLU of Indiana announced it had filed both a new lawsuit and a motion for contempt in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on behalf of Patoka Valley AIDS Community Action Group, the volunteer organization that sponsors Loogootee PrideFest.

The filings focus on Loogootee’s newly enacted Ordinance No. 2025‑14, adopted in late December 2025, which regulates “special events” in the city and effectively bars PrideFest from being held in the public square surrounding the town fountain, its traditional location.

According to the ACLU’s complaint, the new ordinance is a near‑verbatim copy of a 2025 ordinance that a federal judge permanently enjoined in October 2025 as unconstitutional because it gave city officials unfettered discretion to deny event permits, including for PrideFest, based on vague “danger” standards.

In August 2025, U. S. District Judge Richard L. Young had already issued a preliminary and then permanent injunction blocking Loogootee’s 2025 special events ordinance, clearing the way for the 2025 Pride festival to proceed in the public square.

Despite that ruling, the city passed Ordinance 2025‑14 at the end of 2025, retaining provisions the court had permanently enjoined, including restrictions that prevent special events from taking place within a specified distance of the central fountain area where PrideFest has been held.

The motion for contempt argues that by reenacting language the court had already found unconstitutional, Loogootee has “flouted” the federal injunction and is in contempt of court.

“Court orders must be complied with, and Loogootee, by enacting an ordinance that contains provisions enjoined by the Court, is in contempt of its lawful orders, ” said ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk in a public statement announcing the new filings.

Falk added that the new ordinance “continues Loogootee’s pattern of attempting to unconstitutionally restrict this celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, ” and pledged that the organization “will continue to vigorously defend our client’s right to hold the event at their desired location in the heart of Loogootee. ”

Patoka Valley AIDS Community Action Group first organized Loogootee PrideFest in 2023, drawing more than 200 attendees to the town’s public square for a day of LGBTQ+ visibility and community gathering.

City officials initially approved a permit for the 2024 PrideFest, then reversed course by passing stricter special‑events rules, rescinding the permit, and declining to act on a revised application, prompting the ACLU’s first lawsuit over the festival.

While that earlier case was pending, the city eventually allowed the 2024 PrideFest to go forward in the public square, and a subsequent injunction in 2025 allowed another PrideFest to be held there without major incident.

For the 2026 festival, Patoka Valley submitted its permit application, but the city again declined to rule, indicating a new ordinance would be adopted instead, according to the federal court filings.

Loogootee’s latest ordinance would allow PrideFest to be held in other areas of the city, such as parks or green space, but not in the public square, a distinction that advocates say effectively relegates the LGBTQ+ celebration away from the town’s most visible civic space.

The ACLU’s lawsuit contends that singling out the square in this way, and repeatedly changing permit rules as LGBTQ+ organizers comply with them, amounts to viewpoint discrimination and an unlawful restriction on public‑forum speech.

For LGBTQ+ residents and allies in this small southwestern Indiana community, access to the public square is about more than logistics; advocates describe the location as a symbol of belonging and equal standing in civic life.

The Indiana Lawyer reports that Loogootee’s city attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuit and contempt motion.

As the case proceeds, the ACLU of Indiana is asking the federal court to again block enforcement of the ordinance and to ensure that Loogootee PrideFest 2026 can go forward in the public square, maintaining a visible LGBTQ+ presence in the center of town.