Mayor Jim Donchess’s recent decisions regarding Nashua’s Pride Parade have raised serious questions about his commitment to the First Amendment and his understanding of viewpoint neutrality in public forums.
Taxpayer funds are being used to organize the Nashua Pride Parade, a public event that begins at City Hall Plaza and proceeds through downtown streets. Participation in the parade is controlled by the Mayor himself, who approves which groups are allowed to march. This year, the Satanic Temple, a controversial organization that openly praises Satan, was permitted to march behind the Mayor, carrying banners in full view of Nashua’s families and children. Immediately following them was the Party for Socialism and Liberation, another highly controversial political group. These groups have every right to express themselves in public spaces, but the question is, should taxpayers be compelled to fund an event, by way of City personnel, where participation is controlled by one man’s personal ideology?
At the same time, the City has repeatedly rejected requests to raise flags or host events that express viewpoints not aligned with the Mayor’s preferences. The Pine Tree Flag, an early American symbol of independence was deemed “too controversial” to fly at City Hall Plaza. Flags supporting women’s sports and recognizing Detransition Awareness Day have also been denied. Even the Israeli flag was called “too controversial” during oral arguments by Nashua’s Assistant Corporation Counsel in Concord Federal Court. These denials are not neutral, they are political. And they signal a dangerous trend: a public official using taxpayer-funded spaces to promote his own ideology while excluding others.
This is textbook viewpoint discrimination, something the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently ruled unconstitutional. In Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022), the Court held that a city cannot deny a flag-raising request based on the viewpoint it expresses when it opens a forum for private speech. Nashua appears to be doing exactly that: allowing selective speech it endorses, while excluding the rest.
In a democracy, citizens do not give elected officials a blank check to silence disfavored views. The Mayor’s role is to serve as a steward of the public square, not its gatekeeper. When public spaces and public resources are used to elevate one viewpoint over another, the First Amendment suffers, and so does public trust.
The hypocrisy is glaring. At a Board of Aldermen meeting, Alderman-at-Large Melbourne Moran unleashed a public tirade against Beth Scaer, accusing her of “locking arms with Satan” merely for expressing concern about men in women’s sports and the use of puberty blockers on children. Yet the same city government, under the direction of Mayor Donchess, not only welcomed but promoted the Satanic Temple to march in a city-sponsored, parade. If invoking Satan is cause for moral outrage, where is the outrage now? The truth is, it was never about Satan, it was about silencing viewpoints the Mayor and his allies disfavor. This isn’t just political hypocrisy; it’s a blatant abuse of power and a profound insult to every Nashua resident who believes in equal treatment under the First Amendment.
The conversation Nashua needs isn’t about who has the “right” ideology, it’s about who gets access to public spaces, public resources, and public respect. Mayor Donchess has made his views clear. Now the public must decide at November’s polls, when the Mayor presents his “ticket” for the Aldermanic Chamber, whether one man’s preferences should define the boundaries of acceptable expression in a free society.
