Key Takeaways
- The Tuscaloosa Public Library cancelled Eagle Forum of Alabama’s approved meeting reservations, citing a policy that bars religious groups from using library space to express their beliefs.
- Eagle Forum has filed a lawsuit arguing the policy violates its constitutional rights and unlawfully discriminates against religious speech.
- Public facilities like libraries cannot exclude groups based on religious viewpoints; the First Amendment requires the government to treat religious and secular speakers equally.
When the government opens a facility for community use, it cannot pick and choose which viewpoints are welcome. Government spaces that are open to the public must be available to the entire public—including both religious and secular people. A city hall meeting room, a community center, or a public library gathering space is not supposed to function as a filter for ideas.
The First Amendment does not allow government officials to favor secular voices while excluding religious ones; neutrality requires that both be treated the same.
That principle is now at the center of a case involving the Eagle Forum of Alabama.
What is the Eagle Forum of Alabama?
Eagle Forum of Alabama is a Christian, nonprofit organization that regularly hosts events to help facilitate discussions, inform citizens of important issues, and encourage involvement in the political process.
Established in 1986, Eagle Forum strives to fulfill this mission in a manner that “present[s] a sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit individuals and the public to form independent opinions or conclusions.”
This mission is deeply intertwined with Eagle Forum’s faith. The group “supports Holy Scriptures as providing the best code of moral conduct yet devised.” Furthermore, Eagle Forum of Alabama believes that “we owe our existence to a Creator who has endowed each of us with unalienable rights.”
This particular chapter is just one of a larger national organization that maintains a biblical understanding of marriage and family. As part of the national group’s broader mission, these nonprofits hold meetings to educate and help spark discussions on a variety of topics, like healthcare, gender ideology, election issues, and taxes.
This chapter of Eagle Forum will typically hold anywhere from four to 12 public events and will draw 10-50 attendees.
Despite its noble mission, Eagle Forum has suddenly found itself the target of a discriminatory library policy.
Tuscaloosa Public Library Excludes Eagle Forum
The Tuscaloosa Public Library invites a wide variety of groups to meet and use its Rotary Room meeting space. The library’s reservation policy for the space broadly allows groups to book and use the Rotary Room so long as the event doesn’t conflict with a scheduled event.
The library will typically grant organizations 6-month or yearlong approvals. Eagle Forum received a yearlong approval in November 2024. Following that approval, Eagle Forum would go on to host a meeting in March 2025 and reserved the Rotary Room for two additional meetings to be held in August.
Despite following all the protocol and receiving prior approval, in July 2025, a library employee sent Eagle Forum an email cancelling both August meetings. The email stated, “[b]ecause of the current political and social climate, the library has unfortunately made the decision to cancel your upcoming reservations on Saturday, August 2 and Saturday, August 16.”
The email cited a clause in the reservation policy which provided that the “Rotary Room may not be used for: meetings of religious or sectarian groups for the purpose of preaching or otherwise demonstrating the beliefs of their members.”
Due to Eagle Forum not seeing the cancellation email earlier, the August 2 event—advertised as a “conversation that connects today’s headlines with eternal truth”—still happened. The August 16 event, meant to be a reading of the U.S. Constitution, never occurred.
After counsel for Eagle Forum sent a demand letter to the library advising that Eagle Forum’s exclusion violates clearly established constitutional rights under the First Amendment, the library doubled down on excluding the group from the Rotary Room, all because of the group’s faith.
“We should not be second-class citizens because of our religious viewpoint,” Becky Gerritson, the executive director of Eagle Forum of Alabama, told World News Group.
The Tuscaloosa Public Library violated Eagle Forum’s Constitutional rights
Because of these blatant violations of Eagle Forum’s federal and state constitutional rights, Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Eagle Forum in a lawsuit against the library.
Simply put, the government (which oversees public libraries) cannot discriminate against Eagle Forum by excluding them from public spaces simply because they are religious. More so, the government has no right to decide which viewpoints are “allowed” in a public forum. Since the government is constitutionally required to treat all viewpoints equally, that means it can’t favor secular groups over religious ones.
Libraries are meant to bring communities together for conversation and civic engagement. The Tuscaloosa Public Library policy excluding one segment of the community from participating in this does the exact opposite of what libraries are meant to do.
Bottom line: Barring a group from a public space because it’s religious is nothing more than discrimination and a direct violation of the Constitution.
Eagle Forum of Alabama v. Tuscaloosa Public Library Board of Trustees
- November 2024: Eagle Forum of Alabama secures a yearlong approval to use the Tuscaloosa Public Library’s Rotary Room for its meetings.
- July 2025: The library abruptly decides to cancel Eagle Forum’s approval, citing a discriminatory policy.
- March 2026: ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit against the Tuscaloosa Public Library on behalf of Eagle Forum.
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