According to the Birmingham News, the mayor has rejected a request for a gay pride parade in the city:

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford won't sign a proclamation for an annual gay pride celebration or allow banners on city property, and said he will not grant the sponsoring group a parade permit.

Langford said he turned down the requests this week from Central Alabama Pride because it is inappropriate for government to endorse a lifestyle. Pride Week is next month and often includes a parade on Southside and other events.

"My policy is don't ask because it's not my business, and don't put me in the position to make it my business," Langford said Friday. "I don't condone it, but I also am not sitting in judgment on anyone."

Still Langford's stance angered some members of the city's gay community.

"It doesn't hurt my feelings, because we're not politically on the same page. I'm offended more so," said Ronald Simoneau, a participant in the parade since 1989. . . .

"I did the first gay pride march in 1989," Simoneau said "At that time, even the police were a little worried then, but we've never had a problem at all." . . .

The story gives no detail about the criteria the mayor may use to deny a permit under the city's code; nor does it say anything about whether the mayor's decision may be appealed. It may be that the mayor has other reasons to deny the permit but that those reasons are not given in the story.

Under the First Amendment, an official charged with reviewing permits for speech in a public forum cannot deny applications based on the content of the speech in the parade or demonstration. The government doesn't get to pick and choose speakers and messages that may be heard in a public forum based on whether the government likes or dislikes those messages, or is afraid the government might be thought to approve them. That's what the mayor is doing when he says he does not want to appear to "endorse" the "lifestyle" advocated by the parade. If there are no content-neutral reasons for the denial of the permit — such as a scheduling conflict with another parade — the decision is unconstitutional.

UPDATE: The mayor has reversed his decision and has now agreed to issue the parade permit.