TUCSON, Ariz. — National Day of Prayer events on city property should be treated like those of other groups, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Frank Zapata ruled yesterday that the city’s policy barring organizers of events in direct support of religious organizations from receiving fee waivers granted to other groups was invalid and unconstitutional.

In essence, the city’s actions were discriminatory to the religious group, the judge found.

“We are pleased. This has been a long struggle against censorship and unequal treatment against religious speakers,” said Benjamin W. Bull, chief counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the National Day of Prayer organization.

“This is a huge victory for free speech and a defeat for those who would like to censor Christian voices,” he said. “The organizers of the Tucson National Day of Prayer are only asking for a level playing field, and the court is to be commended for its ruling today.”

The lawsuit was brought in 1997 on behalf of Patricia Gentala, chairwoman of the Tucson National Day of Prayer Committee, and her husband after the city’s Civic Events Fund declined to waive a $340 fee for a prayer rally at the Reid Park Bandshell “because it was against funding policy.”

Zapata initially upheld the city’s policy, reasoning that the First Amendment’s establishment clause prevented the city from funding religious activities.

In 1999, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Gentalas and the National Day of Prayer group, but an 11-judge panel of the court overturned that decision.

On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001 reversed the 9th Circuit in Gentala v. Tucson. The Court sent the case back to the 9th Circuit for reconsideration in light of the high court’s decision earlier that year in Good News Club v. Milford Central School. In that case, the high court ruled that a Bible group could not be denied access to public school property after-hours so long as other groups with a moral viewpoint were allowed to gather there.

The 9th Circuit then returned the case to Zapata.

Zapata concluded that “the city violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment when it excludes events held in direct support of religious organizations from Civic Events Fund support.”

“The court also concludes that Establishment Clause considerations do not justify the city’s exclusion.”

Tucson City Attorney Michael House did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The National Day of Prayer is an annual event held in parks and public facilities across the country on the first Thursday in May, where Christians gather to pray for the nation.