Los Angeles, its mayor and chief of police are being sued in a case that accuses them of operating in violation of the U.S. Constitution by imposing a system of viewpoint discrimination that simply takes away the rights of some parts of the city’s population.
The case comes from Liberty Counsel, which alleges that the defendants denied a permit for a peaceful assembly because it was from Mayday USA, a grassroots organization that advocates against abortion, pornography and human trafficking.
Yet, the charges say that the city, Mayor Karen Bass and Police Chief Jim McDonnell just “days later” provided that same permit for the LA Pride Parade, which advocates for positions opposite to what Mayday USA endorses.
Liberty Counsel chief Mat Staver said, “The city of Los Angeles may not pick and choose which groups are allowed First Amendment rights of free expression or religious freedom. The Constitution is clear that religious freedom is inalienable.
“Liberty Counsel is defending these ministries because silencing the peaceful public expression of Christian viewpoints cannot be tolerated. The city’s unconstitutional permitting scheme cannot withstand First Amendment scrutiny and causes irreparable harm to religious liberty. Los Angeles city officials must be held accountable.”
The legal team charged, “The city unconstitutionally denied the organizers a permit to peacefully assemble even though a few days later the city permitted the LA Pride Parade in the same location.”
It represents Jenny Donnelly, founder and president of Her Voice Movement, Inc., lead organizers Robert Donnelly, Ross Johnston, and Russell Johnson, lead pastor of The Pursuit, a Christian church in Washington.
They requested access to Hollywood Boulevard, a traditional public forum, for a May 31 event to worship, and to speak against abortion, pornography, and human trafficking.
City officials refused, and then went further by creating a long list of administrative hurdles and technical permitting requirements.
Yet, the same officials quickly granted permission at the same location for events such as the 55th Annual LA Pride Parade, the Thai New Year Songkran Festival, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests.
The plaintiffs are asking the court for an injunction to halt the city’s “unlawful permitting process that violates the rights to free speech, religious exercise and equal protection.”
The rights advocates had set up events in LA, New York, Miami, Seattle and Houston in May, a “Mayday” call for Christian revival.
“The events were permitted and held in the first four cities, though the city of Seattle conspicuously denied organizers their location of choice and only granted it to be held in a predominantly LGBTQ neighborhood,” Liberty Counsel reported, where “gender-confused and antifa rioters dressed in black and wearing face masks assaulted the Christians in attendance,” forcing police to intervene.
Los Angeles, for example, insisted organizers conduct a petition of Hollywood Boulevard’s business owners and vendors to ensure at least 51 percent approved of Mayday’s expressive activity and speech, they hold an event without a stage, and refused to allow reasonable times for the permit application, none of which is found in the city’s code.
The filing quotes the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Shurtleff v. Boston, which rules, “When the government does not speak for itself, it may not exclude speech based on ‘religious viewpoint;’ doing so ‘constitutes impermissible viewpoint discrimination.’”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Bob Unruh
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.wnd.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
