Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston - Significance, Parades Are Expression Too, Impact, Further Readings

Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston - Significance

The ruling recognized that privately organized parades are a form of private expression and are protected under the First Amendment. The private organizer can select which messages are expressed to onlookers and which messages left out. Denying participation of certain groups, in essence, exercises a right not to speak. However, many long established parades around the nation organized by private …

Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston - Further Readings

Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston - Parades Are Expression Too

The Supreme Court unanimously held that First Amendment protection did apply to the council and that, being private organizers, they could exclude a group whose message was one which they did not wish to express. Justice Souter, delivering the opinion of the unanimous Court, wrote, "If there were no reason for a group of people to march from here to there except to reach a destination, they could …

Hurley v. Irish-American Gay Group of Boston - Impact

The Hurley decision held that privately organized parades were a form of symbolic private expression. The Supreme Court has found that symbolic speech was sufficient in some cases to deserve First Amendment protection. In 1941 the Court also determined that parades comprise such a form of protected symbolic speech, but they can also be subject to greater regulation than pure speech. For example, t…