Christians Sue NY City, Claim Pro-Gay Bias
Christians claiming their First Amendment rights were violated at a gay Pride event in June have brought suit against a New York city.
Christian protesters who showed up to proselytize at Southern Tier Pride 2008 on June 14 in the city of Elmira, NY, say that they were targeted for harassment by local police due to their religious beliefs, and seek unfettered latitude at gay events in the future in order to spread their anti-gay message, reported local newspaper the Star-Gazette in an Aug. 22 article, and anti-gay Christian Web site World Net Daily in an item from the same day.
Three protesters brought the suit, which stems from concerned police officers asking one protester to remove a T-shirt that might have been construed as inflammatory and offensive to participants of the Pride event.
As a result, James Barnes, Julian Raven, James DeFerio have filed the suit, which claims that during "a city-sanctioned event in a public park" their right to free speech was violated.
The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers affiliated with the Christian Alliance Defense Fund, a group with the self-described mission of protecting religious freedom, marriage, and the family.
Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Joel Oster was quoted as saying, "It's a free speech issue."
Continued Oster, "Christians have the same free-speech rights as anyone else in a public forum."
Oster went on, "Threatening to arrest Christians simply because they have opposing views and choose to exercise their free speech rights at a public place is unconstitutional."
Barnes was wearing the T-shirt in question, which carried an "ex-gay" message reading, "Liberated from Sin by the Blood of Jesus."
Elmira police officer Capt. Michael Morrone asked that the shirt be removed in order to preserve the peace.
Elmira mayor John Tonello maintained that the officers were simply acting out of a need to see order maintained.
Said Tonello on Aug. 21, "As we've said all along, this is not a free-speech issue. It's a public safety issue."
Continued the mayor, "As we saw, there was already a court case, and the judge upheld the fact that the city and the city police acted properly in guarding the peace and protecting the participants, which is our responsibility."
"This is not a public safety issue," countered Oster.
"This is a matter of can Christians act at a public forum to express their viewpoint, or can the city force them out?"
The Star-Gazette reported that Oster drew a parallel between the Christians carrying placards, wearing potentially offensive T-shirts, and handing out anti-gay literature at the Pride event and the resistance of African-Americans in the 1960s to biased laws barring them from entering certain public places reserved for the exclusive use of whites.
"And of course, now we're not buying it," said Oster of the restrictions placed upon African-Americans at that time.
Raven had also been arrested last year at the same event, the newspaper reported, after he and three others entered the site of the event, Wisner Park, and lay down by the stage to engage in "silent prayer."
According to a Star-Gazette story from last year, Sgt. Sharon Moyer, a police officer who had told Raven a few minutes before that he would be allowed to enter the park but not to "confront" anyone, saw the behavior that the protesters were engaging in and the effect that their conduct was having on the crowd.
Other witnesses disputed that the prayer was silent, saying that the four protesters were reciting Scripture aloud in the midst of the Pride participants.
Sgt. Moyer, concerned about the way the situation was unfolding, arrested the protesters for disturbing the peace.
The judge in the case found that Raven had behaved recklessly by intruding directly into the crowd of Pride celebrants, rather than confining the group's activities to the sidewalk around the park.
The case bore similarities to the case in March of the same year in which Soulforce Freedom Riders were arrested for stepping off a sidewalk onto the grounds of Mississippi College, a school with an official anti-gay policy. The Freedom Riders had stopped by the college as part of a tour of anti-gay colleges and universities; the moment Riders stepped off the sidewalk, they were placed under arrest for trespassing.
The following month, in Dade Country, Georgia, Soulforce civil rights volunteers were arrested at Covenant College when they stepped onto the grounds during their attempt to speak with students about the school's anti-gay policies.
The suit also bears similarities to legal action pursued in the 1990s, as gay equality advocates sought to have their right to free expression honored by St. Patrick's Day parade organizers in Boston.
The courts sided with the parade organizers in ruling that the organizers had the right to prevent gays from participating even though the parade took place on public streets.
Said Mayor Tonello of the Pride event targeted by Raven and the other anti-gay Christian protesters, "I was at the event last year and this year, and [the protesters] like to call it a city-sanctioned event. But we issue permits for people to appear in parks and other locations across the city all year long.
"This was just another group that has the free right to use city facilities in that way."
The anti-gay Christians' suit names the city, the mayor, and several members of the Elmira police force, including Marrone and Moyer.