Lesbian Couple Sues Key West After Getting Fined For Painting Their Rainbow Fence
The lawsuit argues the City selectively enforced its ordinances against a couple who painted their white fence in rainbow colors to protest the removal of Duval Street’s rainbow crosswalks.
Featured Image: via Sohn v. City of Key West filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Last June 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FLA) ordered removal of decorated crosswalks and sidewalks across Florida—and issued threats to cut transportation funding for noncompliant cities. Three months later, Key West residents Coley Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn stepped up in peaceful and colorful protest, painting twelve picket fences on their property in rainbow colors.
Their display inspired other Key West locals to also paint their fences in rainbow colors, a collective expression of solidarity against the government’s actions. And while more than 50 rainbow picket displays were painted in the City’s Historic District since the crosswalks’ removal, the two women were selectively singled out for enforcement following a complaint by a disapproving neighbor. On Dec. 20, 2025, the women were issued a “Good Neighbor Courtesy Notice” stating: “Please return picket fence to HARC approved color or contact HARC to apply for and obtain HARC approval for rainbow painted pickets.”
On December 29, 2025, they applied for a permit. Instead of approval, in February 2026, they received a “Notice of Code Violation.”
Related: Orlando Artists Fill Parking Lot With Color In Protest Of Rainbow Crosswalk Ban
Faced with fines of $250 per day, the couple ultimately painted their fences white. On March 7, they filed a lawsuit against the City of Key West. They are represented by the ACLU of Florida, Reid Levin PLLC, and The Smith Law Firm.
“No one should lose their right to speak out simply because those in power disagree with the message,” said Coley Sohn in an ACLU presss release, “and the government can’t single out some views over others, deciding how to enforce its laws. That’s what the First Amendment protects us from.”
The ACLU notes, “While the city eagerly enforced its regulations against the rainbow pickets, it has chosen not to cite other noncompliant households for similar fence-color violations.” Still, according to the ACLU, most other residents in Key West’s historic district repainted their fences white for fear of financial penalties.
Related: Miami Beach’s Pride Crosswalk Torn Up As Florida Expands Crackdown On Street Art
“The forced removal of rainbow crosswalks and Pride-related street art across the state reveals the threat Florida leaders have unleashed on free expression. Allowing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to escalate into censorship is an act of state overreach that should concern everyone,” said Samantha Past, ACLU of Florida staff attorney. “The Bagley-Sohn family have bravely and creatively protested the state’s attempt to erase LGBTQ+ identities and exercised their First Amendment rights on behalf of their community and the constitutional freedoms that protect us all.”
The lawsuit, Sohn v. City of Key West, is filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
