State Shuts Down EVERYONE To Stop Christian Message – WorldNetDaily
The state of Wyoming has settled a dispute over Christian and pro-life speech in a pedestrian tunnel by ordering that no one again can display a message on the public property.
The case was brought by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of the http://www.wywatch.org organization.
The state admitted violating the U.S. Constitution by restricting the speech of a group in a forum that had carried numerous messages from the public. But it decided to resolve the issue by banning all public messages in the forum entirely, ADF said.
……..
“Honoring free speech doesn’t come about by completely eliminating it,” said Jonathan Scruggs, who litigated the case along with ADF-allied attorney Nate Kellum.
“Although the [state] commissioners have done the right thing by recognizing that they violated the First Amendment rights of WyWatch members who simply wanted to display signs as others had been allowed to do, we disagree that the solution is to then shut everyone up so that you don’t have to allow pro-life speech anymore,” Scruggs said.
The results are part of a consent order reached between WyWatch Family Action and officials in the state.
The case developed after WyWatch asked the state for permission to post signs in a “walk by” space in the state’s Herschler Gallery, a long and wide tunnel between the state Capitol and the Herschler State Office Building nearby.
Rich Cathcart, executive secretary of the State Building Commission, which supervises state properties, approved the request.
So on Feb. 3, 2011, WyWatch Family Action chairman Becky Vandeberghe erected two signs, one depicting a living pre-born baby in the womb with a Bible verse. The other sign showed a picture of a group of individuals with the caption “We Regret Our Abortions.”
The signs were placed in advocacy for two pro-life bills before the legislature.
But Cathcart, who reported getting a number of “inflamed calls,” deemed the signs unacceptable and removed them the next morning because the pro-life message was outside the “generic stuff” that he alleged was approved.
The legal action was brought because the application process never specified any such limitation.
The court consent order specifies that “the parties agree, and the court accepts, that the… defendants unconstitutionally prevented plaintiff from engaging in protected expression in the Herschler Gallery in February 2011 by enforcing an unconstitutionally vague policy against the plaintiff and by enforcing that policy in such a way to discriminate against the viewpoint of plaintiff’s expression.”
The agreement states the state will pay the plaintiffs $1 in damages plus fees and litigation costs of about $30,000.
ADF said the state was skirting the logical requirement that such messages would be allowed in the future “by simply eliminating the right of any outside groups to engage in free speech activities in Herschler Gallery.”
The organization said the state, “rather than allow pro-life speech in the Herschler Gallery, adopted new rules that prohibit the public from engaging in an free speech activities in the gallery.”
“WyWatch Family Action’s board of directors is pleased that the state realizes that it infringed on our constitutionally protected freedom of speech and religion and that they admit their previous policy was unconstitutional,” said chairwoman Becky Vandeberghe.
“It’s sad that it took such drastic measures to bring that about, but it’s even sadder that state officials decided to address the problem by stifling more free speech, not less.”
The Casper, Wyo., Star-Tribune reported in January that the speech ban was adopted to protect the tunnel’s function as a “protected and secure thoroughfare for foot traffic.”
Cindy Hill, superintendent of public instruction and a member of the state building commission, opposed the ban on free speech grounds.
But the report said various organizations for years had used the tunnel space to place exhibits that support bills in the legislature.
darcprynce
Dave C
Gatordoug
This is an interesting case – I find it ironic though, that this usually happens to atheist groups. The moment they put something up – all the sudden the whole thing is shut down. Pagans get this treatment all the time too. The moment a pagan group wants to have a school club – all the sudden nobody can.
It’s not an anti-Christian thing (although I don’t know what is “Christian” about being pro-life since the Bible never mentions abortion at all, and the Old Jewish Law explained in the Old Testament treats a fetus as the property of the husband of the mother whose price is the cost of a goat – but whatever floats your boat) or even an anti-atheist thing; it’s an anti-controversy thing. The people who maintain these areas, administrate schools and put ads on buses, etc, don’t want to deal with controversy because it’s simply unpleasant.
Everyone should just calm down and realize that in a free market place of ideas – you’re bound to be offended at some point. Unless the posting included grotesque material not suitable for the young-ones; they should have been allowed, and the court said as much. Then the people maintaining the sight, after dealing with the whole legal mess, washed their hands of the whole business of managing freedom of expression.
I don’t agree either, but it’s understandable.