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The ACLU of Indiana is suing Indiana State University for allegedly canceling a pride festival typically held on its campus and requesting instead that the event be held elsewhere.
A lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, argues that the decision violates the First Amendment rights of plaintiff Pride Center of Terre Haute, Inc.
The Pride Center is a nonprofit organization focused on creating a positive impact on members of the LGBTQ+ community in Vigo County.
Officials with ISU did not immediately respond to Indiana Lawyer’s request for comment.
“The Pride Center rightfully believes that having it at ISU has been a very important message to deliver both to the university community and the greater community at large,” Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, told Indiana Lawyer. “Pride events are educational in the sense that they stress inclusivity, and there’s no better place to have that [than] at a university…under the First Amendment, we have the choice to decide where to express ourselves on public property.”
In 2023 and 2024, the nonprofit sponsored and organized a pride festival in the ISU Quad, an open area on campus that’s used for expressive activity.
Despite the university supporting the festival for the last two years, it was announced in December 2024 that the festival would be held at Fairbanks Park, a public park in Terre Haute, according to the lawsuit.
Prior to the announcement, the Pride Center allegedly contacted ISU numerous times asking to hold the 2025 festival on the Quad but received no response. The center was unaware the festival was going to be held elsewhere until the announcement was made, the lawsuit claims.
According to the lawsuit, officials at ISU reached out to the Terre Haute mayor’s office requesting that the festival take place away from campus.
The ACLU alleged that this move is part of a string of efforts by ISU to restrict efforts to support and promote the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
ISU students said university leadership asked student orientation leaders not to share their preferred pronouns during orientation in August 2024, according to the lawsuit.
And the university allegedly refused to issue a university-wide press release for an an event called, “Born This Way Celebrating Queer Graphics Program,” which took place in January. University leaders instructed that if anything about the event was posted on social media, that the posts not use terms like “queer,” “LGBTQ+,” or “gender identity,” the lawsuit states.
The Pride Center is asking the court to declare that the defendants’ actions violate the First Amendment.
It also asks the court to enter a preliminary injunction, later to be made permanent, enjoining ISU to allow the festival to happen on campus.
The case is Pride Center of Terre Haute, Inc. v. President, Indiana State University et al, 2:25-cv-76.
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