D.C. Metro Hit With First Amendment Suit For Refusing to Run Catholic Christmas Ad

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Retweeted by Sign Popehat's Yearbook: https://twitter.com/Popehat

Q: What do the Catholic Church, ACLU, PETA, and Milo Yiannopoulos have in common? A: They all say their 1st Amendment rights were violated by DC Metro's wildly stupid ad policy

Link to tweet

D.C. Metro Hit With First Amendment Suit For Refusing to Run Catholic Christmas Ad

What do the Catholic Church, the ACLU, PETA, and Milo Yiannopoulos have in common? None of them can buy ads on the D.C. subway.

C.J. Ciaramella|Nov. 28, 2017 4:15 pm

The District of Columbia's transit system won't let the local archdiocese buy space for a Christmas-themed advertisement. Now the archdiocese is suing the agency for violating its First Amendment rights.

In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed today against the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority—commonly called Metro—the archdiocese argues that the agency's refusal to run its ads "effectively silences any viewpoint that might challenge commercialism or consumerism or attempt to emphasize the religious reason for the season."

The lawsuit is the second First Amendment challenge filed this year against Metro's policy of banning ads that are "issues-oriented" or "intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against Metro in August on behalf of four plaintiffs, including itself, who were denied advertising space by the government agency. In the ACLU's instance, the rejected ad was literally the text of the First Amendment.

The other plaintiffs in the ACLU case are People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a local abortion provider, and noted troll Milo Yiannopoulos. ... Metro adopted the policy in 2015 after anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller attempted to buy ad space on the subway.
....

C.J. Ciaramella is a criminal justice reporter at Reason.

[left-of-center2012]

1. The ad sounds OK with me (I'm Buddhist)

In the current case, the archdiocese was attempting to purchase space on buses and at bus stops for its "Find the Perfect Gift" campaign.
The ads in question are fairly minimalist, showing a starry sky, the silhouettes of shepherds, the slogan, and the campaign's web address and hashtag.
According to the lawsuit, the goal "is to encourage individuals to seek spiritual gifts during this Christmas season, and to offer members of the community public service opportunities
to serve our most 5 vulnerable neighbors in the winter months when many material needs increase and become more challenging."

That, apparently, was too controversial for D.C. commuters.
When the archdiocese contacted Jack Costello, a third-party vendor that contracts with Metro, he told them that the ads would not comply with Metro guidelines.

"Costello had mentioned that if the advertisement had a commercial purpose, such as selling goods or services, then the advertisement would be more likely to comply," the lawsuit states.

[ret5hd]

2. Ahhh!!! Some Pope-On-A-Rope might be the ticket:

Or even these nifty switch covers:

[left-of-center2012]

4. Maybe a dashboard Jesus?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. The Metro has ads for

Last edited Thu Nov 30, 2017, 10:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Panasonic's battlefield-hardened laptops, and so on.

But political advocacy ads are too provocative?

SMH

Thanks for writing.

[gopiscrap]

5. good for Metro