Jackson's Town Council is working on new rules to clarify the permitting process for allowing special events on the Town Square.
Town attorney Audrey Cohen-Davis says the new rules were in the works before a pro-life ministry group proposed putting up a controversial anti-abortion display on the Town Square. The town stopped the group from showing graphic images of fetuses during a Boy Scout Expo on the Town Square, a move which the Wyoming Supreme Court said violated the group’s First Amendment rights.
While the town lost that case, Cohen-Davis says Jackson still has a say over what happens in public spaces.
"The town and the court agreed ... that the town does have the right, through the use of content-neutral restrictions and subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions and place requirement, to restrict speech in areas reserved for other uses," Cohen-Davis said.
She says other towns, including Laramie, have rules governing what happens on town property.
This year, Jackson approved the pro-life group's request to put up a 10-by-80-foot religious display on the square in May but prohibited the event on one day the Boy Scouts will be using the square for an expo and elk antler auction.
