Sohn v. City of Key West

These cases challenge the City of Key West’s selective enforcement of regulations against residents who painted fence pickets in rainbow colors to protest the city’s removal of rainbow crosswalks, and the city’s subsequent retaliation against the plaintiffs. Installed in 2015 as a symbol of inclusion for Key West’s LGBTQ+ community, the rainbow crosswalks were among several removed in Florida in 2025 after the DeSantis administration threatened local governments with financial penalties if they did not remove them. Following the removal, Coley Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn painted some pickets on their fence in rainbow colors, inspiring many other Key West locals to join their protest. The city cited the rainbow fences for violating local ordinances, but has chosen not to cite other noncompliant households for similar fence-color violations. After the Bagley-Sohns sued Key West for selectively enforcing its ordinances in violation of the First Amendment, the city took evidence cited in their lawsuit and treated it as if the couple had submitted code violation complaints to the city, falsely identifying the Bagley-Sohns as complainants in the city’s code-enforcement cases against their neighbors.

The Latest: We filed the selective-enforcement case on May 7, 2026. We filed the retaliation case on September 9, 2026.