In Wilton Manors, Florida, Gay Hookup Ads Grace Trash Bins, Prompt Debate

One resident's complaint about a gay hookup app advertised on eco bins associated with the city of Winton Manors, Florida, has raised a debate on how to balance First Amendment rights with concerns over community standards.

At the March 8 commission meeting, resident Michael Rajner raised his concerns over several Squirt.org ads that were displayed on some of the eco bins at and near the Five Points intersection.

The ads read "Real Guys Real Hookups" and featured a man in a tank top. Rajner said the ads were inappropriate for children to view and that they put a divide between some of the straight and gay residents in the city. Resident Nick Berry echoed Rajner's concern for the kids. "You're putting it right in front of the face of the kids."

Berry also called for someone, either residents or city staff, to be put in charge of approving the ads. The solar-powered eco bins, which accept trash and recycling, are owned by Go Green Eco Bins and 7 Sun Media. The city receives 15 percent of the ad revenue from the boxes because they are located on city property or in city rights of way.

Days after Rajner's raised the issue, the ads were removed and at the March 22 commission meeting, City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said the city would create a policy to decide which ads are allowed on the boxes. Per its contract with the owners of the eco bins, the city can already decline any proposed ads.

But that censorship has some commissioners worried.

"We will have to be cautious," said Mayor Gary Resnick who cited the First Amendment.

"When you start censorship, I get nervous," Commissioner Tom Green said. He added that he doesn't think children need to be protected from the ads. "Kids are not as na�ve as people think. I've heard things from fourth graders that stun me."

Thomas Julin, a Miami attorney who specializes in free speech issues, said First Amendment cases involving government-involved or controlled advertising are "very complicated." But, he said, despite the city's right to reject ads, Squirt.org or the owner of the eco bins could possibly win a case to overturn any city objection if it can prove it was subject to special treatment.

To do that though, the advertiser would first have to raise an objection to the city's actions and so far neither Squirt.org nor the owner of the eco bins has given any indication it will.

In 2015 in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., the Supreme Court ruled that government can prohibit certain kinds of license plates because they constitute government speech. In his majority opinion, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer wrote "a city accepting a privately donated monument and placing it on city property was engaging in government speech."

7 Sun Media did not return an email request for comment in time for publication.