Saturday, May 30, 2020

Equality California Lies, Issues Eblast About Black Lives Matteer

I receive the latest email from Equality California, the notorious pro-LGBT hate group based in Los Angeles.

Here's the subject line of the eblast:

Black Lives Matter  -- This is not a fundraising email

Here are the contents of the eblast:

Friend --

We have been rocked by the recent violence against Black people across the country. Unfortunately, we know that these events are the result of centuries of deeply rooted, anti-Black racism. And while racist violence in our country began long before Donald Trump, the president continues to stoke racist sentiment and embolden white supremacists.

At our core, Equality California is an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. We strive for a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for LGBTQ+ people AND the diverse communities to which we belong. What we have witnessed with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Taylor and too many others is simple: a heinous attack on the lives and civil rights of Black Americans.

We must do better, Friend. Black lives matter.

Yesterday, Equality California joined over 110 LGBTQ+ organizations in affirming our commitment to anti-racism and ending white supremacy. Both MUST be front-and-center if we want to achieve full, lived equality for LGBTQ+ people. Read our full letter here >>

Many of us are wondering what we can do to support our Black friends, neighbors and loved ones as well as those hurting in Minneapolis, Louisville and across the country. Below are a few resources our team has compiled. This is by no means an exhaustive list. We believe that being an anti-racist and ally is a lifelong, active responsibility, and this email should be the first of many conversations to come.
Friend, the fight for LGBTQ+ equality is intrinsically tied to the fight for racial justice. Our community understands what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than -- that our lives don’t matter. From the Civil Rights Movement to the Stonewall riots to Act Up and the AIDS crisis, our progress has been hard-fought and hard-won -- often with transgender people of color on the front lines. Now is not the time for any of us to sit on the sidelines. And it’s especially incumbent upon those of us who aren’t Black to be active allies in this fight to end institutional racism.

Our LGBTQ+ community must do MORE than stand in solidarity with Black Americans. We must find ways to act and engage with anti-racism. Silence = complicity. Silence = death.

Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.

In solidarity,

Rick Chavez Zbur
Executive Director
Equality California
This message was sent to: arthur@massresistance.org
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Equality California | eqca.org
3701 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 725,
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Notice that donation button right at the bottom.
Notice also that LGBT groups like Equality California are all about pushing this race war in the United States. They do not care about the well-being or the natural rights of others.

Equality California lies. They don't care about black lives. They don't care about any lives. They only care about pushing their anti-life, anti-family agenda onto the United States.


Internationally Renowned Author and Evangelist Praises MassResistance, Interviews Organization Director

Internationally known evangelist and conservative commentator Dr. Michael Brown praises MassResistance in latest book

Features our efforts in successfully fighting—and winning—culture war battles against the LGBT agenda

Video: Dr. Brown’s exclusive interview with MassResistance national director Arthur Schaper

May 29, 2020
ALT TEXT Dr. Brown's show has been a prominent voice in the Evangelical Christian movement for many years.
For years, Dr. Michael Brown has been sharing the Gospel and speaking out against the abysmal culture malaise that has overrun the United States. He is an internationally recognized author and speaker, and has long hosted a popular daily radio show “Line of Fire,” heard on over 40 stations across the US and online.
Most important, unlike many conservative radio and talk show hosts, Dr. Brown has not been afraid to forthrightly discuss the LGBT agenda. His 2011 book, A Queer Thing Happened to America; and What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been, documented the extraordinary impact that LGBT activism has had on American society.
But how can we effectively stop it? Finding common ground with an agenda that is completely based on lies can never succeed, he realized. The pro-family movement has tried that approach for 30 years, and it has failed.
In his latest book, Jezebel’s War with America, Brown not only confronts the militancy of the LGBT agenda – along with the other cultural horrors overrunning the country –he also gives special praise to MassResistance – that MassResistance’s hard-nosed, confrontational approach is what works.
ALT TEXT
Jezebel was the most wicked woman in the Bible. She was married to Israel’s wicked King Ahab. But her evil was far greater. She was determined to overwhelm the nation with idolatry, licentiousness, and utter moral destruction. She had the prophets killed, led Israel into paganism, and emasculated men.
In 21st-century America, Jezebel is not a person. But the spirit of Jezebel is alive again. The same demonic influences are felt in the massive increase of pornography, sexual immorality, abortion, radical feminism, and in the militant efforts to silence opposing voices. It plagues citizens, families, the churches, and society as a whole.

Is there any hope for stopping this?

In the final chapter of his new book, titled “How to Defeat Jezebel on a National Level,” Dr. Brown praises MassResistance for our growing victories around the world to stop the LGBT agenda:
There’s an organization that started in Massachusetts that is now going nationwide and worldwide. It’s called MassResistance, and it has been pushing back against radical activism since 1995 (and paying quite a price along the way). Not all of its members or leaders are Christians [some are Jewish], and not all Christians would be comfortable with everything they do. I don’t mean they are violent. Never! I mean they don’t mind shouting loudly if that’s the only way to be heard. But this much is clear: They’re getting results because they’re making an effort. They’re getting the truth out to local school communities. They’re exposing the darkness. And they’re winning hearts and minds.
In subsequent paragraphs, Brown lists several MassResistance articles and talks about how we stopped depraved “Drag Queen Story Hour” events across the country.

MassResistance’s Arthur Schaper Goes on Dr. Brown’s Radio show

This past week Dr. Brown asked Arthur Schaper, MassResistance’s national director, to come on the show and talk more about what we do and how we differ from the mainstream pro-family movement.
VIDEO: Dr. Michael Brown Interviews Arthur Schaper

Arthur described the successes MassResistance has been having over the last two years. Drag Queen Story Hour programs are getting shut down; reparative therapy bans have been stopped in key states; and MassResistance recently forced a school district to get rid of a graphic LGBT-based sex-ed curriculum—in the state of California, of all places!
Dr. Brown has been a vocal supporter of MassResistance, and a good friend of our executive director Brian Camenker for many years. His strong endorsement of our activism in his latest book is a great testament to the impact that our pro-family activism is having around the world!
ALT TEXT In 2015 Michael Brown (right) and Brian Camenker of MassResistance (center) were both featured speakers at the "Stand4Truth" Conference in Salt Lake City. At left is Sandy Rios, the moderator of the event.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2020

MassResistance Exposes Convicted Child Molester Pushing LGBT Ordinances in West Virginia!

MassResistance helping WV city officials confront proposed LGBT ordinance – being pushed on town by national movement

"Transgender" activist leading the effort is exposed by MassResistance – as convicted child molester!

May 25, 2020
ALT TEXT "Dee Dee" McIntosh, a man dressed as a woman, surrounded by fellow LGBT activists, addresses the city council of Star City, WV demanding that they pass a radical LGBT non-discrimination ordinance.
It’s been happening in relatively conservative cities and towns across America: Massively funded LGBT organizations come in and force the local city councils to pass onerous “sexual orientation and gender identity” non-discrimination ordinances. They use sophisticated propaganda and intimidation tactics. They bring in crowds of angry LGBT “citizens” from surrounding areas (and even other states) to intimidate the politicians and local conservatives. Unfortunately, these campaigns have been successful across the country.
But this time our local MassResistance chapter is on the ground to turn their tactics around and derail the push!
Star City, West Virginia is a fairly conservative suburb of Morgantown. Although the state of West Virginia is relatively conservative, Morgantown (located just south of Pittsburgh) is dominated by West Virginia University and other local colleges. It has become a center for LGBT activism in that region.

The “SOGI” ordinance

Near the end of last year a local LGBT activist – a bizarre man who dresses as a woman and calls himself Dee Dee McIntosh – came to the City Council meeting and with a crowd of other LGBT activists. He presented a “sexual-orientation gender-identity” (SOGI) non-discrimination ordinance that his group wanted the city to enact.
ALT TEXT Local TV screenshot of "Dee Dee" at the City Council meeting - clearly a very strange man!
Dee Dee McIntosh’s ordinance was written by PFLAG, a powerful national LGBT organization that also pushes homosexuality and transgenderism in public schools, colleges, and other public venues across the country. PFLAG has a very active chapter in Morgantown.
PFLAG is a powerful, well-funded national LGBT activist group.
The text of the ordinance is cleverly crafted to blend homosexuality and transgenderism with race, religion, and other common non-discrimination categories. It says it seeks to “promote the public health and welfare” and ensure that “all persons have equal access to employment, housing, and public accommodations.”
The legal penalties for violations of the proposed ordinance are vague. But the real muscle is in a clause that allows the ordinance to be enforced “through a private civil action” in court.
In other words, it sets up the national LGBT movement to do what they’re doing across America: Swoop in and sue individual businesses who refuse to toe the line on transgender or homosexual demands. And you can be sure that the LGBT activists will be aggressively seeking to entrap local businesses.
But even without the “private civil action” clause, getting homosexuality and transgenderism written into the city ordinance gives the movement the ability to be in everyone’s faces – from “gay” parades to “gay/trans” library books, LGBT school programs, and much more.

Working to get the ordinance passed

In late 2019, the radicals were already moving forward on their propaganda campaign, with their emotional appeal that the town desperately needed “civil rights protections to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” It’s a psychologically confusing approach that can be very effective, especially on weak-minded people who “just want to be fair.”
When the proposal was presented, the Council sent it to its Ordinance Sub-Committee, but did not subsequently put it on the full Council agenda for discussion. So at the February, 2020 City Council meeting, Dee Dee McIntosh came back with his LGBT group and also got a Morgantown TV station to show up and report on his demand. (Unfortunately for him, the TV report accentuates his deep male voice.)
ALT TEXT The term "much-anticipated" is from the biased media, not the town's citizens.
Dee Dee told the TV reporters he will keep coming to the City Council meetings until the ordinance gets passed. His LGBT activists clearly intend to do whatever it takes to intimidate the politicians into caving in.
ALT TEXT The City Council of Star City is bracing to deal with the LGBT onslaught.

MassResistance gets involved

In late February, West Virginia MassResistance got word of all this and reached out to the City Council. The politicians who got back to us said they welcomed our help. They admitted that they were concerned that the LGBT movement was organizing in Star City and gaining momentum to force this through.
ALT TEXT
Our activists immediately began contacting local religious leaders and conservative activists to get our own momentum started.

MassResistance exposes “Dee Dee” as convicted child molester

MassResistance activists also decided to do some research on just who “Dee Dee McIntosh” really is. What they found was incredibly shocking – but unfortunately not so unusual.
“Dee Dee” is actually Donald David McIntosh. According to published records, he is a convicted child molester who served time in jail. McIntosh was a schoolteacher in Morgantown who was convicted on three counts of molesting elementary and middle-school children.
ALT TEXT This information wasn't that hard to find. Only MassResistance cared to look for it!
But it gets even worse.
McIntosh attempted to vacate his conviction on appeal. In the appellate ruling obtained by MassResistance, The State of West Virginia v. David McIntoshwe discovered that according to testimony during the trial against him, McIntosh actually had a long history – nearly 40 years! – of abusing minor children who were under his care as a teacher.
According to our West Virginia MassResistance activists in the Morgantown area, Donald McIntosh’s predatory behavior against children was all too well known. The Monogalia County school district allegedly moved him around from school to school, providing cover for the perverted teacher’s predatory behavior. The testimony in his trial came from victims who were in elementary school, middle school, and one in ninth grade (high school) at the time of the crimes.
At one point in the late 1980s (according to court documents), in response to complaints the school system mandated that:
[McIntosh] was not to have physical contact with students, was not to be alone with a child in any part of the building, and was not to engage in one-on-one conversations with a child.
It appears that the mainstream media was too enamored with the LGBT movement to take the time to look into McIntosh’s background, as bizarre a person as he clearly is.
But in fact, it has become increasingly alarming how many LGBT activists are connected to the sex trade, sexual deviance, and even criminal conduct of a sexual nature.
These revelations about “Dee Dee” McIntosh should be enough to quash the City Council’s further interest in pursuing any kind of non-discrimination ordinance for LGBT behaviors and so-called identities. But of course, this won’t stop the local LGBT activists and the national groups like PFLAG from continuing to push their agenda – because it doesn’t bother them. And they know that most local news organizations and conservative groups would never bother to look into their criminal backgrounds. But MassResistance does!

Final thoughts

Our activists in the Morgantown and Star City area are definitely ready to roll on this!
You may recall our report this past February about our outstanding West Virginia Chapter in Morgantown – which stopped a hideous “Drag Queen Story Hour” from taking place in the public library. They did it by publicly revealing the depraved activity of the Drag Queens who would be reading to the children, and also the criminal conviction of one of them. With that information, they forced the politicians to completely back down – despite the fury of the LGBT activists.
(MassResistance has also uncovered past criminal activity by public library “Drag Queens” in Houston and Austin.)
Because of the COVID-19 virus, the next City Council meeting in Star City is not until July. We will be ready for it – and let you know what happens!
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Pacific Justice Institute Opening Up East Coast Offices

The Pacific Justice Institute does some incredible work.

Now they are expanding operations to the East Coast! Way to go, Brad Dacus!

Pacific Justice Institute:
Defending religious freedoms, parental rights, and other civil liberties.
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PJI GOES COAST TO COAST: New Office Defending Churches and Believers in NY and NJ

May 26, 2020
Media Contact: Brad Dacus, 916-616-4126 (Spanish: 206-257-3239)

White Plains, NY– With many churches on the East Coast flooding Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) for counsel and possible defense, PJI is pleased to announce the opening of its first office on the East Coast.

“The continued harassment and unequal treatment of churches, combined with other religious freedom cases already in existence before the pandemic, requires us to step up our presence with a new office,” said Brad Dacus, attorney and President of PJI. PJI already represents in court the first amendment rights of an Orthodox Jewish school being ordered by New York to compromise its beliefs regarding its curriculum. “All of our cases are taken on without charge, and we want to make sure that every single request for help on the East Coast is handled when it involves religious freedom, parental rights, or the sanctity of life.”

The new office based in White Plains, New York, will also serve surrounding areas including New Jersey and be directed by PJI Staff Attorney Mishael Pine. “It is an honor to join PJI in advancing religious freedom here on the East Coast,” Mishael Pine commented. “I welcome churches and believers of all denominations to reach out to me through our website, PJI.org, and take advantage of the dozens of free resources available there.”

In addition to the pandemic-related requests, requests for help had already been increasing as a result of PJI’s radio presence. The airing of PJI’s short weekly radio spots, The Legal Edge, and its half-hour weekly show, The Dacus Report, heard on hundreds of radio stations across the country, has generated cries for help along the East Coast from those attacked because of their faith.

Dacus launched PJI in 1997 to meet the growing threats to religious liberties and parental rights. Within the last few years, PJI has experienced tremendous growth, with satellite offices throughout California and now in Oregon, Washington State, Nevada, and Colorado. PJI has become known for taking on—and winning—legal battles for religious freedom in the most hostile territory in America. In addition to its dozens of active cases across the nation, and past wins at the U.S. Supreme Court, D.C. Circuit and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, PJI is also known for producing a large number of educational and self-help legal resources, available at no charge at www.PJI.org.

During the COVID-19 crisis, PJI has also emerged as a national leader in preparing state-specific resources for churches in particular. PJI has prepared COVID-19 legal memos for both New York and New Jersey, as well as extensive checklists for reopening.

“Over the last several years, the number of requests we have been getting from New York and New Jersey has been steadily increasing, and we could not let those cries for help go unanswered,” Dacus commented. “We are thrilled by this opportunity to serve even more churches and people of faith in the Empire State and Garden State.”

Dacus further noted that, while many law firms and organizations are scaling back in the face of COVID- 19 and economic uncertainties, PJI is expanding to meet the unprecedented challenges to religious freedom.

Please prayerfully consider partnering with PJI with a regular monthly contribution. Just press the red “Donate” bar below. Thank you!
 
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Friday, May 22, 2020

Massachusetts Governor Calls Unconstitutional Order -- MassResistance Stopped Unconstitutional Power Grab

Did the Massachusetts governor have actual legal power to shut down society over COVID-19? The answer seems to be: No.

How MassResistance made a big difference in stopping the governor's "legal" emergency powers.

By Brian Camenker
May 22, 2020
NOTE: This article originally appeared in American Thinker.
ALT TEXT The cradle of liberty? In the historic Boston Common -- where the patriots and revolutionaries once walked -- people now wear masks in obedience to the Governor's orders. (We're surprised that the dog wasn't arrested for a violation!) [All photos by MassResistance]
Governors across the country are imposing harsh, sweeping, and often arbitrary statewide edicts on the basis of a COVID-19 emergency. But where did governors get these powers? Were they legitimately created by state legislatures, or are the governors (and local authorities) just dreaming them up as they go along? Most people don’t know. Sadly, few are asking this question.
ALT TEXT Sign just inside the main entrance of a supermarket in Massachusetts.
Over a decade ago in Massachusetts, MassResistance played a big part in limiting the governor’s “legal” powers during a pandemic. That successful effort applies to today’s situation. And it makes Governor Charlie Baker’s power grab even more disturbing.
But this story actually began several decades earlier.

The Massachusetts Civil Defense Act of 1950

On August 29, 1949, the USSR successfully detonated its first atomic bomb. Cold War panic quickly ignited across America. There were fears of a Soviet invasion of the United States. The following year, the Massachusetts Legislature reacted by passing the “Civil Defense Act – Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950.
The main stated purpose of the law was to give the state government a way to “effectively minimize the damage” from “attack, sabotage, or other hostile action” by “enemies of the United States.” The Legislature also included some other categories of disasters that cause physical damage: “disaster or catastrophe resulting from riot or other civil disturbance; or by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural causes.”
That law gives the governor the power to proclaim a “state of emergency” throughout Massachusetts. During the state of emergency, the governor is given extraordinary powers – and can supersede existing statutes if he chooses. Those powers, which are broadly listed in the statute, are quite frightening and many appear unconstitutional. They are clearly laid out to deal with enemy attacks, riots, etc. For example, cooperation with military and naval forces is described. Nothing in the law addresses or implies public health concerns or pandemics.

The “Pandemic Control Bill” of 2009 is filed

Fast forward nearly 60 years to 2009. There had been recent warnings in the medical community that an H1N1 swine flu epidemic would emerge that year and spread widely. The Mass. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) wanted to be able to declare a medical emergency and use extraordinary state powers to deal with it.
But it was clear to everyone that the Civil Defense Act of 1950 does not include “public health” emergencies. Another statute, MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A, does allow the governor to declare a “public health emergency” – but the powers it gives the state are very limited. The statute only allows the Commissioner of Public Health to establish vague “procedures” for those maintaining public health services.
So the DPH worked with the medical lobby and a prominent State Senator (who had close ties to the pharmaceutical industry) to create a far-reaching “Pandemic Control Bill” on a par with the Civil Defense Act.
Bill S2028, titled “An Act Relative to Pandemic and Disaster Preparation and Response in the Commonwealth,” was quietly filed in early 2009. For months it sailed under the radar. That April, it was passed by the State Senate unanimously.

MassResistance read the bill – and reacted …

Within a few months, Amy Contrada, our MassResistance researcher, noticed that this oddly titled bill had been gaining unusual momentum. When she looked it up and read it she was shocked.
The bill rewrote and powerfully strengthened MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A (referenced above). It reiterated that the governor could declare a “public health emergency” separate from the emergencies enumerated in the Civil Defense Act. Similar to the Civil Defense Act, it included a long list of broad (and clearly over-the-top and unconstitutional) powers that the governor could use to deal with that emergency.
Among other things, this draconian bill would have given the state the power to enter and search houses, take property, detain people, prohibit assemblies of people, require vaccinations, and much more – and it set penalties for non-compliance at $1,000 per day plus jail time. Some people were calling this the "Storm Trooper Bill" because of the frightening extra-constitutional powers it would give the state against citizens.
MassResistance published a full report on the dangers of the radical pandemic control bill, S2028. We also published a line-by-line analysis of the text of the bill.  In addition, we reported how the DPH Commissioner admitted in his testimony that the medical establishment and those close to “big pharma” helped write the bill.
ALT TEXT This is the direction that politicians invariably take if given the opportunity.

… And we successfully battled to stop it!

As the Massachusetts House of Representatives was preparing to take up Bill S2028, we got right to work. MassResistance mobilized hundreds of people across the state to demand that their State Reps reject the bill.
MassResistance also began a national media campaign about the bill to inform people. It was quite successful. Judge Andrew Napolitano did a segment on national Fox News about S2028. (Unfortunately, the video of that segment is no longer posted.) National conservative media such as WorldNetDaily also covered it.
The Massachusetts DPH reacted to MassResistance’s activism by staging its ownintensive House lobbying campaign to get S2026 passed. Here’s our report on the hardcore DPH lobbying efforts.
But the public outrage was clearly rattling the House members. So on Oct. 8, 2009, the Democrat House leadership decided to fast-track it through. They brought it to the floor, renamed it H4275, and quickly added 17 amendments (which no one had time to read). Then the House passed it by 133-36. Here’s the MassResistance report on the new version, H4275.
But the fight wasn’t over yet. Since the House version was now different from the version than the Senate had passed, the bill went to a six-member conference committee to create a compromise version, which would be re-voted by both branches and sent to the governor for signing.
The bill’s proponents were jubilant. When a bill is sent to conference committee, the whole process generally takes just a few days to resolve, get passed again by both branches, and then sent to the governor.
But not this time! MassResistance INTENSIFIED the pressure on the six-member conference committee. Even more angry people got involved! As a result, the bill stalled. Weeks and weeks passed. On Dec. 31, 2009, the legislative session ended. The bill was dead. And in the years since then, it has never come back. We had won!
And although the swine flu pandemic of 2009 was worse than the normal flu season, it was nowhere near the “public health emergency” that had been predicted by the Mass. DPH. No extra-legal measures were needed to deal with it.

Mass. Governor now using 1950 Civil Defense Act to grab power

So where did Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker get his “legal” power to close the schools, close most businesses (and arbitrarily decide which ones may be open), close all churches, ban all groups of people and assemblies, order all citizens to “social distance,” require everyone to wear masks in public, and much more?
He has no legal authority for any of this. It’s all counterfeit. There is no actual “Pandemic Control Law” to use, so Baker is dishonestly relying on the old Civil Defense Act. If you look at any of his Executive Orders on the COVID-19, they reference the two laws described above – the Civil Defense Act of 1950 and MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A (which is still very weak).
As described above – and as the Legislature noted in 2009 – the Civil Defense Act does not include “public health” emergencies. And although the Civil Defense Act has a lot of extra-constitutional features, it does not allow the governor to close churches, close schools, or issue many of the other orders that Baker has so cavalierly dictated.
And how has the Massachusetts Legislature reacted? They largely support Baker’s actions, and many legislators have even encouraged him to go further.
It is worth noting here what really struck us back in 2009 when MassResistance activists were working to persuade the Legislature to reject that pandemic control bill: Not a single legislator cared at all about its Constitutional problems. Their mindset then (and now) was not to protect people’s liberties, but the exact opposite – to do whatever they can get away with. To them, the Constitution is something read in high school civics class but not something to seriously consider as government officials. They are instead swayed by the heavy hand of the legislative leadership, powerful special interests, or large numbers of very angry constituents. It’s a sad lesson that many conservatives still need to learn.
So now we are seeing lawless orders across the U.S. which – shockingly – large numbers of citizens seem content with. Too few are taking the time to understand what is really happening and challenge their officials.
Let’s remember Benjamin Franklin’s observation: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." The nation’s acquiescence will surely come back to haunt us.
ALT TEXT The new "bread lines." Masked shoppers line up the mandatory 6 feet apart outside a Massachusetts supermarket. The governor only allows a fraction of the normal capacity of shoppers to be inside.
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Thursday, May 21, 2020

Breaking: PJI Sues Governor Newsom for Shutting Down Churches, Declaring Them "Non-Essential"


PJI sues Governor Newsom, challenges unconstitutional treatment of churches

May 21, 2020
Media Contact: Brad Dacus, 916-616-4126 (Spanish: 206-257-3239)
Sacramento, CA — Today, Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) filed a federal lawsuit against California Gov. Gavin Newsom on behalf of two churches in Calaveras County that desire to receive equal treatment, as other institutions such as schools are permitted by the Governor to reopen.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, seeks to restrain the Governor’s unconstitutional treatment of religious assemblies in his executive orders. Governor Newsom’s May 4 executive order, the Reopening Plan, lays out the four stages for reopening the State. Calaveras County, in the midst of Stage 2, is permitted to open schools again for educational purposes, but is forced to keep churches closed down until Stage 3.

The rural churches in this case, Mountain Christian Fellowship and Refuge Church, have complied with Governor Newsom’s stay-at-home orders and did not conduct in-person services. Calaveras County reported only 13 known cases of COVID-19 and no deaths related to the virus, and the County currently has no known COVID-19 cases.

Kevin Snider, Chief Counsel of PJI, who represents the churches in this lawsuit, stated, “These churches are not asking for preferential treatment from the State, but for equal treatment. No compelling state interest exists to apply different standards to a schoolhouse and a church. Instead of separating them like sheep from the goats, identical health and safety rules for both institutions could be put in place by the State.”

“We at Pacific Justice Institute have waited for this strategic time to challenge Governor Newsom's blatant violation of religious rights for churches to meet and congregate in defense of their faith,”
commented Brad Dacus, President of PJI. “We are willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, as this sets the stage for many generations to come.”

Please prayerfully consider partnering with PJI with a regular monthly contribution. Just press the red “Donate” bar below. Thank you!
 
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