In the weeks leading up to the conservative activist group True Texas Project’s event at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, more than 500 community members signed a petition opposing the event hosted on city-owned property.
True Texas Project — which rented the space for its 15th anniversary party and conference — included sessions with titles like “Multiculturalism & The War On White America,” “Great Replacement Theory” and “The Case For Christian Nationalism,” along with notable speakers like Kyle Rittenhouse, who gained popularity in far-right circles after shooting three men at a civil rights protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020.
But whether or not an event is divisive, can the city block political organizations like the True Texas Project from its properties?
The answer, according to the city and First Amendment experts, is no.
Following an article published by the Texas Tribune outlining the conference sessions, the Botanic Garden denied the group space for its event. The city of Fort Worth, which owns the Botanic Garden, told garden officials that they had to host the event.
Dale Carpenter, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, agreed that banning the event would have been a violation of the group’s First Amendment right to free speech.
“The nature of debate in this country is that sometimes people disagree vehemently, and that’s OK,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t like each other and shout and that’s OK.”
Free speech is limited in some circumstances, but it is very rare. Public safety and incitement of violenceare some instances where the government can intervene.
But while private entities can choose what speech it allows on its property or platform, government entities can not in most cases — and that would applies to government-owned properties like the Botanic Garden
“The government cannot discriminate against speech, it can’t punish people for speech based on the viewpoints expressed by the speaker,” Carpenter said.
The True Texas Project did not respond to KERA’s request for an interview.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has placed the group on its list of extremist organizations, and critics of the conference and its speakers say they’re concerned about their impact on the community.
“We cannot allow that type of speech to be normalized in our common areas,” said Amy Custer-Ramsey, whose group Defense of Democracy plans to protest the event. “There are people that work at the Botanic Garden that are in, you know, the marginalized communities that these groups target and that is not acceptable. It shouldn’t be acceptable.”
The True Texas Project event on city-owned property is not the first time a political group has leased space from a government entity. National conventions for both the Republican and Democratic parties have been held at city-owned convention centers. Most recently, the Dallas-owned Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center hosted the NRA’s national convention — a deal that raised eyebrows when KERA News reported the gun group got a nearly half-million-dollar discount.
A group’s political stances have no bearing on whether the speech is legally protected, so even if a city banned all political groups from renting its facilities, Carpenter said it would still be discrimination based on the content of speech. The city could ban all groups from hosting events at city facilities, but that would cost the city additional revenue.
The exception would be if the speech incites acts of violence toward a group. While the group has not explicitly called for violence, some of their stated beliefs — like the “Great Replacement Theory,” an ideology used by white supremacists who allege foreigners are intentionally changing the demographics of a country — have been used to incite violence.
A report by the Anti-Defamation League released last year examined nearly three years of “alarming levels of extremist ideology and activity” in Texas. The report listed a 60% increase in white supremacist propaganda between 2021 and 2022. It also referenced a gunmanwho had “neo-Nazi ideation” connected with the 2023 Allen shooting.
“It’s just a slippery slope,” Custer-Ramsey said. “Yes, hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. But the mayor is the mayor for all of Fort Worth, not just the people that believe what True Texas Project believes. There’s a whole lot of other people out there that [Mayor Mattie Parker] is supposed to be standing up for.”
As of Friday, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker did not respond to request for comment about True Texas Project or the specific content espoused in the weekend’s sessions. But city officials have explained why the event was allowed.
“Allowing differing viewpoints to speak at our government properties should not be confused with the City supporting the viewpoint of this or any speaker,” Reyne Telles, the city’s chief communications officer, said in a statement.
Defense of Democracy’s protest is planned for Saturday. Custer-Ramsey said the group’s goal is to develop community awareness.
“What we’re really wanting to achieve is to show the Fort Worth community, especially the marginalized communities in Fort Worth, that there are other community members that are standing up and protesting against speech that threatens them,” she said.
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