Tuscaloosa Library, Governments Sued Over Alleged Religious Discrimination

The Tuscaloosa Public Library, its board of directors, and three local governments were sued in federal court earlier this week over alleged religious discrimination in the use of the library's meeting space.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the Alabama Chapter of the Eagle Forum, a 40-year-old Christian organization that "supports a Biblical understanding of marriage and family."

Their lawsuit says Eagle Forum events are often "the intersection of faith and civic duty," where citizens hear advice about government and policymaking, "so that America
will continue to be a land of individual liberty, sovereign independence, limited government, family integrity, private enterprise, and public and private virtue."

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The trouble is over a series of events the Eagle Forum scheduled in the Rotary Room of the Tuscaloosa Public Library's downtown headquarters on Jack Warner Parkway.

The conservative Christian group hosted a meet-and-greet and a documentary screening at TPL in March 2025, and reserved the Rotary Room for two additional meetings in August 2025.

In July, a Library employee notified the Eagle Forum that both events had been cancelled "because of the current political and social climate," citing a library policy banning "meetings of religious or sectarian groups for the purpose of preaching or otherwise demonstrating the beliefs of their members."

This led to some legal sparring last year - the Eagle Forum says they issued a demand letter in September saying their First Amendment rights were being violated, and the Library reportedly responded in October "doubling down on its decision to exclude Eagle Forum," according to the lawsuit.

A four-count federal lawsuit accuses TPL, the city of Tuscaloosa, the city of Northport and the Tuscaloosa County Commission of violating the Free Exercise Clause, the Free Speech Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment.

The Eagle Forum is seeking injunctive relief to meet at TPL and also seeks "nominal damages" from the TPL Board of Trustees and all three local governments.

Their lawsuit includes a long list of others who have been allowed to use the Rotary Room, including a "House Healer," a magician, a balloon artist, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and more.

“The Tuscaloosa Public Library can’t close its meeting spaces to religious groups like Eagle Forum while swinging them wide open to every manner of secular organizations. Such religious discrimination blatantly violates the Constitution,” said ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham. “We are urging the court to hold library staff accountable for this violation of Eagle Forum’s constitutionally protected freedoms and restore the Christian nonprofit’s right to access the public library like everyone else.”

Their lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

A spokesperson for the city of Tuscaloosa declined to comment on the suit, and no one at the Library could be reached for comment on Thursday before the publication of this story.

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