A lawsuit has been filed against city officials in LA and Seattle for either refusing to allow Christians to use a site for a prayer and praise rally, or deliberately forcing them to hold the rally in the middle of an LGBTQ area which resulted in violence.According to the Christian legal ministry, Liberty Counsel, a suit was filed last week against the two cities for their actions regarding Christian public worship event that took place across the country on May 24. The events, called “Mayday,” were designed to publicly praise the Lord as well as call Christians to pray for the country.
However, what should have been a routine request for a permit in Seattle turned into what would become a nightmare for participating Christians.
“Seattle city officials refused to grant a permit for the park the Christians had chosen. Instead, they ordered them to hold their event at a park in a well-known LGBTQ neighborhood,” writes Matt Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The churches had no choice — either hold their event in the heart of the LGBTQ area or don’t receive a permit. City officials knowingly set the Christians up for disaster.”
Sure enough, when worshippers arrived at the permitted site for the rally, LGBTQ and antifa rioters, dressed in black and wearing face masks to hide their identities, showed up at the park.
Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel explains what happened next.
“When the worshippers arrived for their event, they were met by urine-filled balloon-pelting drag queens and antifa rioters," Staver reports. "Senior citizens and children were physically assaulted. A 17-year-old boy who had come to pray was held at knifepoint.”
Thankfully, the entire event was caught on video and 23 LGBTQ and antifa activists were arrested.
In spite of clear evidence, however, Seattle’s Democrat mayor, Bruce Harrell, blamed the Christians for the fiasco.
“Mayor Harrell labeled the Christians as ‘far right extremists,’ while not mentioning a word about the crazed leftists who caused the violence — or the fact that the City forced the Christians to hold their event in a neighborhood where they would almost certainly be attacked,” Staver added.
Unfortunately, the city of Los Angeles pulled a similar stunt when they refused to issue a permit to Christians wanting to hold a Mayday celebration on Hollywood Boulevard. Even though thousands of public gatherings have been permitted on the Boulevard in the past, the City of LA denied the request.
“Los Angeles officials claimed that this Christian event would prevent firetrucks and emergency equipment from accessing the road, despite the fact that the city issued a permit for the ‘LA Pride’ gathering a few days later, which was held on the exact same road and area, but with tens of thousands more attendees,” Staver explains.
“Both Seattle and Los Angeles are ‘woke’ cities that actively endorse LGBTQ lifestyles,” he said, but the law is clear. “Governments MAY NOT pick and choose which groups are allowed First Amendment rights of free expression or religious freedom, but that is exactly what both Seattle and Los Angeles have done.
As a result, Liberty Counsel filed suit against both cities last week and is determined to seek justice for the victims of these unlawful acts.
“Liberty Counsel has fought and won scores of cases of this nature,” Staver says, “and we will not stop until every attempt to rob Christians of their freedom is eradicated.”
Let us pray that this suit is successful in not only winning justice for those who were harmed by these actions, but as a warning to others who seek to undermine the rights of Christians that this kind of blatantly discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated.
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