Settlement reached in Alaska gay exhibit dispute

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The city of Anchorage will pay $10,000 to a civil liberties organization to settle a legal dispute over a gay-pride exhibit that the mayor ejected from the main public library, officials said on Wednesday.

They said Mayor George Wuerch agreed to make the payment to the Alaska Civil Liberties Union (AkCLU) two weeks after a federal judge ordered the city to return the exhibit to the library.

The payment covers legal expenses for the group, said AkCLU executive director Jennifer Rudinger.

U.S. District Court Judge James Singleton on July 3 ordered the exhibit back up for its original 30-day schedule, granting a request by the AkCLU and overruling Wuerch's decision.

Singleton's ruling was intended as a temporary solution, to be in effect until the matter went to trial, but parties on both sides of the dispute said it effectively ended the argument.

``There's nothing to fight about anymore,'' said Dennis Fradley, Wuerch's spokesman.

Wuerch, a Republican, had ordered the exhibit removed because he considered it to be advocating a political viewpoint and because, he said, it made library patrons unwitting participants in the message.

The AkCLU sued the city, charging a violation of free speech rights. Singleton agreed with the group's arguments, saying that Wuerch's decision appeared to be subjective.

Now that the exhibit has returned to the library, Rudinger said, viewers have wondered why it was so controversial.

``It's the most innocuous exhibit. It's very well done. It's all about celebrating our differences and promoting tolerance,'' she said.