Judge upholds Disney's no-fly zone. A federal judge rejected a conservative Christian group's attempt to remove a no-fly zone over Walt Disney World so it could fly planes trailing anti-gay banners. -- Welcome To The Crzy House

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Date Posted: 20:06:57 06/07/03 Sat
Author: E.J.
Subject: Judge upholds Disney's no-fly zone. A federal judge rejected a conservative Christian group's attempt to remove a no-fly zone over Walt Disney World so it could fly planes trailing anti-gay banners.
In reply to: E.J. 's message, "Just a bit of news" on 19:31:54 06/07/03 Sat

Judge upholds Disney's no-fly zone
Gay.com U.K.
Friday, June 6, 2003 / 04:53 PM

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a conservative Christian group's attempt to remove a no-fly zone around Walt Disney World so it could fly planes trailing anti-gay banners over the resort during the annual Gay Days festival.

District Judge Anne Conway said the Virginia-based Family Policy Network (FPN) did not meet the burden of proof necessary to provide a temporary restraining order against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restrictions, which were adopted to prevent possible terrorist attacks.

Conway also said she did not believe she had jurisdiction over the FAA's policies.

FPN and Airsign, an aerial advertising company, had alleged the no-fly zone violated their free speech rights. The group wanted to hire planes to pull banners reading "Jesus Christ: Hope For Homosexuals.com" over the park.

A Department of Justice attorney insisted the First Amendment, which protects free speech, has little to do with no-fly zones. "The problem is not that (Disney World is) an attractive target for speech," he said. "The problem is, it's an attractive target."

FAA restrictions say that planes must remain at least 3,000 feet above the park or stay at least three nautical miles away. A similar no-fly zone also covers Disney-owned theme parks in Anaheim, Calif.

The 13th annual Gay Days celebration, which is not organized by Disney, is a four-day event which started Thursday. Organizers expect to draw over 130,000 gay and lesbian tourists this year.

A spokesman for FPN said that on Saturday, Gay Days' busiest day, banners would be flown outside the exclusion zone and over other theme parks in the area, including Universal Orlando.

The FAA has refused to comment, other than to confirm that the restrictions were part of a package of measures approved by U.S. Congress in February.

Ironically, the organizers of Gay Days would have liked banners to be able to fly over the complex. Some of the groups organizing events during the festival wanted to take advantage of banner advertising.

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