[ April 18, 2024 ]
Jacob Chludzinski (left) and Grant Strobl (right) of ThinkRight Strategies.
The left – relentless totalitarians.
Ann Arbor Could Fine Conservatives $500 Per Day for Not Parroting Left-Wing Talking Points
On Tuesday, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a conservative political consulting firm, warning that an Ann Arbor non-discrimination law would force that firm to parrot liberal messages and help Democrats get elected. If they refuse, they could get hit with fines of $500 per day. ADF is representing Grant Strobl and Jacob Chludzinski, founders of the company ThinkRight Strategies.
Story continues below advertisement“On the face of the law, it is illegal for Grant and Jacob to decline a request to promote, for example, a Democrat running for office or Planned Parenthood because that would be discrimination based on political beliefs under the law,” ADF Legal Counsel Samuel Green told PJ Media.
“Public accommodations laws across the country have been used to force people to express messages that violate their convictions,” Green added, referencing the cases of Christian baker Jack Phillips and Christian florist Barronelle Stutzman. Phillips and Stutzman gladly serve all people, including LGBT people, but they refused to use their artistic talents to celebrate a same-sex wedding, since they believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. State agencies in Colorado and Washington state ruled that they had discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation, but ADF rightly defended them as expressing their free speech.
“Grant and Jacob, like all of Alliance Defending Freedom’s clients, will work with people from all backgrounds. There are simply messages they cannot promote,” Green explained. “Everyone should be concerned when the government steps in and starts compelling people to advocate for views they oppose.”
“Ann Arbor’s law would force Grant and Jacob, who started a political consulting firm, to advocate for their conservative political beliefs, to advance political causes that they oppose,” he argued. “The government should never force people to express political causes that violate their convictions.”
The Ann Arbor non-discrimination law is extremely broad and open to abuse. The law defines a “place of public accommodation” to include any “business … whose goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations are extended, offered, sold or otherwise made available to the public.” Any such company is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of political beliefs.
“Ann Arbor’s law is quite broad,” the ADF lawyer noted. “It even prohibits Grant and Jacob from putting a statement on their website that they will only advance conservative beliefs and from having internal policies saying that.”
According to section 9:155, “No person shall adopt, enforce or employ any policy or requirement, publish, post or broadcast any advertisement, sign or notice which discriminates or indicates discrimination in providing housing, employment or public accommodations.”
While it might be defensible to prevent a company from posting a sign reading “no blacks allowed” or “no gays allowed” or “no conservatives allowed,” this law also prevents ThinkRight Strategies from posting a sign or even an online message reading, “ThinkRight Strategies advocates for conservative causes and will not promote liberal causes.”
Worse, section 9:156 even prohibits ThinkRight Strategies from having an internal policy restricting its services to conservative candidates or causes.
“No person shall adopt, enforce or employ any policy or requirement which has the effect of creating unequal opportunities according to … political beliefs … for an individual to obtain housing, employment or public accommodation, except for a bona fide business necessity. Such a necessity does not arise due to a mere inconvenience or because of suspected objection to such a person by neighbors, customers or other persons,” the law states.
“Regardless of where people stand on the political divide, all of them should be supporting Grant and Jacob in this lawsuit because people should be able to determine for themselves which political causes they promote,” Green said. “If Grant and Jacob were to post an explanation on their website of the political beliefs they can and cannot advance or to decline to write a speech for a Democrat’s campaign, they could face fines of up to $500 per day.”
Yet the non-discrimination law does not just threaten ThinkRight Strategies. “This law doesn’t just threaten Grant and Jacob, it threatens people of all political beliefs. It could be used to require a Democrat to write speeches for President Trump or a pacifist painter to paint pro-war murals. It could force a pro-life painter to produce a mural for Planned Parenthood.”
The ADF lawyer noted that Strobl and Chludzinski “have been active in politics since their childhood and ThinkRight Strategies is the next step for them to advance their beliefs. They’re concerned about this law that affects their liberty and the liberty of all Americans.”
“We’re hoping that the court will step in and protect everyone’s First Amendment freedoms to choose what positions they will advocate for,” Green said.
Every American has the right to act according to their conscience free from government-compelled speech. This case offers another chance for a court to prove that free speech is a fundamental American value.
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23 Comments
4 years ago
‘Never again means close the camps’: Jews protest ICE across the country
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/never-again-means-close-camps-jews-protest-ice-across-country-n1029386
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
They are nuts.
Left/Liberals invite Muslim immigrants and they payback with fecal diversity cuisine
http://offtrade.net/cnmnews/coffee-chains-with-fecal-bacteria/
LOL !
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
Hello again, little rhymeswithnews. What is it about you moslems and ICE? We NEED a moslem ban. Take that up with ICE.
4 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
‘When Will Trump Stop Demonizing Immigrants?’: U.S. Jewish Leaders ‘Rage’ in Wake of Mass Shootings
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-will-trump-stop-demonizing-immigrants-jewish-leaders-rage-in-wake-of-shootings-1.7620964
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
Trump “demonizes” (your phrase, not mine) ILLEGAL ALIENS and other criminals. He welcomes legal immigrants.
4 years ago
Reply to
Jim Kress
Are you dumb? This is the title of an article from a Jewish news source. It’s their words, NOT mine.
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
You and your imam are keeping rather busy, aren’t you little rhymeswithnews? Besides participating in your moslem homosexual orgies, where all of the boar hogs (moslem males) get all buns up ‘n kneelin’ and shakin’ your butts for ALL that they’re worth …. If you really shake it hard and raise it high …. you can have the pick of the litter to bang your anus, can’t you little rhymeswithnews? ALL moslem males are homosexuals.
4 years ago
Reply to
Achmed Mohandjob
Don’t you remember?
18 Jewish groups urge Congress to pass bill to end Trump’s travel ban
https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/18-jewish-groups-urge-congress-to-pass-bill-to-end-trumps-muslim-travel-ban
Jews and Muslims Unite in New York to Protest Trump’s Travel Ban
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-jews-and-muslims-unite-in-new-york-to-protest-trump-s-travel-ban-1.6218512
American Jewish World Service Condemns U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Uphold Anti-Muslim Travel Ban
https://ajws.org/press-releases/american-jewish-world-service-condemns-u-s-supreme-court-decision-to-uphold-anti-muslim-travel-ban/
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
There you and your imam go again, little rhymeswithnews. How many times did you lick him clean after he had your anus?
4 years ago
Reply to
RhymesWithNews
These are just more DEMONRATS who are ignorant and blind to the TRUTH.
4 years ago
DemonRATS are really NUTS & DANGEROUS! They are like a deadly disease.
4 years ago
This is a “what if”. Waste of energy.
4 years ago
About the Democratic Party:
«I have never been too party man and, the more I learn about the realities of national politics, the more I become convinced that the Democratic Party is an atavism, rather an obstacle than a means of transportation, and nothing will change in American politics until the Democratic Party will be over.» Hunter Thompson, 1972
4 years ago
Reply to
Pantalones
It’s a quote by Hunter Thompson, circa 1972. Thompson was somewhat of a counter-culture type, supposedly the creator of the school of “gonzo journalism”.
4 years ago
The Government telling you what you may and may not say, what policies you have to promote, where have I heard of that happening before??? Oh I remember, it was in the good old USSR, still active in China, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela…Good communists all of them
4 years ago
Any law not constitutional need not be obeyed, but you do. And those that made that law should be tarred and feathered. Ridiculous nonsense but really designed to SHUT DOWN conservative views.
4 years ago
“A law in Ann Arbor……” Totalitarian spirited control freaks have taken over at the local level. I bet most people don’t even know about the endless laws and regulations passed and enforced over their communities. Most people aren’t driven with the desire to control and dominate other people, and are therefore not involved in politics.
4 years ago
I would be more than pleased to write a speech for a Commiecrat providing they are compelled to deliver it as written.
4 years ago
Reply to
John Acord
Exactly. I would also love to write for them, as long as they agree that I can TELL THE TRUTH. They ain’t gonna like what I have to say.
4 years ago
Move out of Michigan,ThinkRight Strategies. YOU do not need Michigan. Michigan needs you. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! I did and am so much happier out of Michigan! A LOT of nasty, liberal, Muslim people live there and I FEEL SORRY FOR THE REST.
I hope it goes to SCOTUS as they usually SHOOT DOWN anti-1st Amendment laws, which is the 2nd step toward COMMUNISM, with the 1st step being shutting down the 2nd Amendment.
