The leaders of Mayday USA, which hosted worship and prayer rallies across the nation, sued the city of Seattle, Mayor Bruce Harrell, and police chief Shon Barnes for infringing on their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religious liberty.
Mayday USA planned worship and prayer events in five cities as a “‘Mayday’ call to awaken America’s parents and politicians into protecting children and our religious freedom.” After hosting successful gatherings in New York, Miami and Houston, the group was organizing events in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Led by Jenny Donnelly of Her Voice Movement and evangelist Ross Johnston, Mayday’s “Don’t Mess With Our Kids” rallies called Christians to worship and intercede on behalf of America because of how our nation harms children through abortion, trafficking, and indoctrinating them with a “liberal, political and sexual agenda that seeks to destroy their God-given identities.”
Liberty Counsel filed the lawsuit on behalf of Donnelly and her husband Robert, Johnston, and Russell Johnson, pastor of The Pursuit, a Washington church which sponsored the event.
According to the Seattle lawsuit, organizers asked to hold their event at Pike Place, “a public street and traditional public forum, home to frequent and reoccurring parades, protests, and other constitutionally protected expressive activity on topics espoused from myriad viewpoints.”
The city refused because of “neighborhood opposition,” a clear violation of the organizer’s free speech rights.
Instead, officials pointed the group to Cal Anderson Park “in the heart of Seattle’s most prominent LGBTQ+ neighborhood.” The prayer rally eventually took place on May 26.
Hundreds gathered to worship and pray for “the sanctity of human life, the sacrality of biological gender, the importance of the nuclear family, and the right to freedom of speech and religion,” as Mayday’s initial press release announced. The event also included bike giveaways and free haircuts.
The lawsuit explains what happened at that park as antifa and LGBT-identified activists attacked the gathering:
Violent agitators threw urine filled balloons at Plaintiffs, engaged in obscene behavior and masturbation in front of the innocent minor children in attendance at Plaintiffs event, threatened Plaintiffs and their volunteers and attendees with death and serious bodily harm for engaging in their protected activity, hurled verbal threats at Plaintiffs, destroyed or damaged Plaintiffs’ event equipment, and otherwise engaged in physical threats and actual violence.
Activists cursed attendees, staff and volunteers, and sprayed them with pepper spray and tear gas. Protestors waved transgender pride flags and carried signs “denouncing the ‘Trump Fascist Regime,’” reported The Seattle Times, adding, “By Saturday night, Seattle police had made 23 arrests on various allegations.”
The lawsuit explained what happened next:
After all of these assaults, police officers told Plaintiffs that they needed to shut down their event early due to the violence.
As part of their reasons, the police told Plaintiffs that there was a shift change for police about to occur, so the police that were on site were leaving. Police also told Plaintiffs that they would not be sending any further police officers to the event because of manpower, overtime, and budget issues.
After the police left, organizers, volunteers and staff tried to break down the stage but were assaulted. Antifa and LGBT activists screamed obscenities and threats, threw water bottles, ripped down banners and damaged production equipment.
To add insult to very real injuries, Mayor Harrell “blamed Mayday for the violence perpetrated against them.” According to a Her Voice Movement press release:
Bruce Harrell, the mayor of Seattle, released a statement after the event, decrying it as “far-right” and unfairly labeling attendees of the peaceful prayer rally as bigots who wished to “provoke a reaction by promoting beliefs that are inherently opposed to our city’s values.”
He went on to say, “While there are broad First Amendment requirements around permitting events under free speech protections, I am directing the Parks Department to review all of the circumstances of this application to understand whether there were legal location alternatives or other adjustments that could have been pursued.”
Mayor Harrell’s statement denied the truth that Mayday USA had “worked closely with the Parks Department for weeks about the entire scope of our event.”
The lawsuit alleges that the city, mayor and police chief violated the First Amendment’s guarantees of free speech, peaceable assembly and free exercise of religion. It further claims that the city’s permitting scheme showed favoritism toward other religious and non-religious groups, violating the First Amendment’s establishment clause and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Image from Ross Johnston / YouTube
