D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser punished demonstrators for writing “Black Preborn Lives Matter” because their speech was pro-life, Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom Denise Harle told the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday.
“The right to free speech is for everyone, not just those who the government agrees with and not just for those in power,” Harle told the DCNF. “The government of D.C., the mayor and the city, essentially punished Students for Life and the Frederick Douglas Foundation for their free speech because it was pro-life.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is representing the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life in a lawsuit against Bowser and the District of Columbia following the arrests of two Students for Life members in August. (RELATED: DC Mayor Sued Over Arrest Of Advocates Who Wrote Pro-Life Messages On Sidewalk)
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested 29-year-old Warner DePriest and 22-year-old Erica Caporaletti for chalking pro-life sentiments, including the slogan “Black Preborn Lives Matter,” on the road in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.
The arrests came after Bowser commissioned the “Black Lives Matter” slogan to be painted on the streets of DC earlier this summer. The mural included the symbol of the D.C. flag — two horizontal bars topped by three stars — after which activists painted “Defund the Police,” making the phrase appear “Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 05: People walk down 16th street after volunteers, with permission from the city, painted “Black Lives Matter” on the street near the White House on June 05, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Bowser’s government removed the D.C. flag, but allowed “Defund the Police” to remain, The Washington Post reported.
Bowser’s office has declined to comment on the lawsuit to the DCNF. (RELATED: DC Police Reveal Why They Arrested Teens Writing Pro-Life Messages In Chalk)
Harle pointed out to the DCNF that Bowser was “quite fine” with the Black Lives Matter slogan painted on the streets of D.C., pointing out the contrast between the two incidents and emphasizing that “the government has to answer for viewpoint discrimination.”
“It was a really obvious example that D.C. was discriminating against the pro-life speech by allowing other voices to be heard with other messages, but silencing and punishing Students for Life,” Harle said.
Students for Life and the Frederick Douglas Foundation are seeking an affirmation that the First Amendment protects the free speech of everyone through the new lawsuit, Harle told the DCNF.
“Tolerance and respect for good-faith differences are essential when we’re living in a pluralistic society with a lot of people with different viewpoints,” she continued. ” We have to have that freedom, and freedom for one group has to mean freedom for other groups as well.”
Harle concluded: “I think if people set the abortion issue aside and understand what the bottom line is here, this is just a pure question of free speech and whether Americans are able to exercise their speech rights or whether they have to be in fear that someone in power might not like what they have to say, and then they’re going to end up in jail.”
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