U.S. District Court Chief Judge Timothy Corrigan found that the remedy sought was too "extraordinary," so Sara Bloomberg v. St. Johns County Commission Chairman JEREMIAH RAY BLOCKER and St. Johns County Commissioners moves on to discovery, motions and trial. Judge Corrigan urged the parties to discuss settlement.
JEREMIAH RAY BLOCKER and County Administrator HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD signed no affidavits and were not in court on June 22, 2021.
Their videotaped depositions will be taken for discovery and evidence at trial.
Federal judge denies injunction over St. Johns County Pride proclamation
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request to force the St. Johns County Commission to consider a county-wide Pride proclamation, but the attorney who brought the LGBTQ+ community feels they will ultimately prevail.
The lawsuit says the county commission violated peoples’ rights to freedom of speech and equal protection by rejecting the proclamation recognizing the county’s LGBTQ+ community.
“We were asking the federal court to put something on their agenda,” said attorney Rook Ringer, who admitted their request was for extraordinary relief from the judge. “(The lawsuit) is still going on and we’re probably going to win, it’s just not going to happen during pride month.”
The 13-page lawsuit was filed earlier this month by Sara Bloomberg, the founder of a group that provides resources for LGBTQ+ youth.
According to the lawsuit, this began in March, when Bloomberg emailed County Commissioner Henry Dean asking him to discuss a Pride proclamation.
It says Dean seemed open to the idea and indicated he’d bring the matter up with county staff.
It goes on to say Bloomberg got a phone call nearly two months later from a county employee which said the board would not consider the proclamation because Chairman Jeremiah Blocker “felt it was too ‘controversial’ and ‘left-leaning.’”
“This is not a left or right issue. It is not a Republican or a Democratic or Independent or Libertarian issue,” Bloomberg told News4Jax. “This is a human rights issue.”
The lawsuit also says the commission went against Sunshine Law by denying Bloomberg’s request to put the proclamation on a public agenda and says the board failed to keep “proper public records of official decisions” by “communicating this decision through a phone call and deliberately avoiding any ‘paper trail’ of this unlawful decision.”
Blocker didn’t respond to News4Jax’s request for comment, but St. Johns County Attorney Patrick McCormack said, “The county is reviewing the court filing and will respond through the legal process.”
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