On October 1, 2013, a lesbian business owner filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Mississippi under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Town of Shannon. The plaintiff, represented by a public interest law center and by a private firm, asked the court for compensatory and punitive damages and issuance of a business license without further impediment or delay. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that the town violated plaintiff's federal and constitutional rights to equal protection and free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by denying plaintiff a business license to open a bar because they did not want a business catered to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community to open in their town, rather than because of any failure to meet the criteria for opening and operating a business in the town.

Plaintiff has been a successful small business owner in the past, and previously owned a bar in the town, which thrived and attracted patrons from nearby towns and states. It was a safe space for LGBT persons in a town with an unfortunate history of acts of fear and bigotry towards LGBT individuals. Additionally, the town's economy has been struggling, and the mayor has publicly encouraged people to open businesses.

On July 11, 2014, the U.S. District Court (Judge Sharion Aycock) issued an Agreed Order of Dismissal because the parties reached settlement. The court retains jurisdiction to enforce the parties' settlement agreement.

Julie Singer - 09/25/2014


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