STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - City leaders in a Mississippi college town have denied a request to host the city's first Pride Parade.

Starkville Pride, an LGBT support group, wanted to hold the parade March 24 in Starkville.

WCBI-TV reports that Starkville aldermen on Tuesday voted 4-3 against the permit. The Dispatch reports that three of the aldermen who voted to reject it left the meeting room through a back entrance, and that none of the alderman who voted no voiced their opinions at the meeting.

The newspaper reports that some Starkville Pride organizers left the meeting in tears. Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said she was disappointed with the decision.

The town is home to Mississippi State University. Spruill noted that Oxford, Mississippi, where the University of Mississippi is based, has held gay pride parades for several years.