City agrees to court order, will not trespass on free speech rights of Christian preachers
ADF-allied attorney wins court victory for public preachers silenced by city officials
HARRISBURG, Pa. — In a victory for religious free speech, an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney has won a court victory on behalf of two preachers who had been barred from speaking in a public park. City of Harrisburg officials agreed to the entry of a July 21 court order prohibiting violation of the preachers’ First Amendment rights.
“Christian speech shouldn’t be treated differently than any other kind of speech in a public forum,” said ADF-allied attorney Randy Wenger. “The city has now agreed not to misuse noise ordinances and trespass statutes to silence Christian speech on public rights-of-way. Doing so violates the constitutionally guaranteed rights found in the First Amendment.”
In 2005, Ron McRae was arrested for “defiant trespass” and was also charged with violating Harrisburg’s noise ordinance for preaching on a sidewalk across the street from “PrideFest 2005,” a public event celebrating homosexual behavior. City officials in Harrisburg had arrested other preachers at previous public “PrideFest” events.
A federal district judge in Pennsylvania denied McRae’s motion for a preliminary injunction to allow him to publicly preach during this year’s event, but the judge stated in his decision that McRae’s First Amendment rights had indeed been violated by city officials. Wenger appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, but rather than continue litigation, city officials agreed to sign a stipulated order submitted by Wenger and issued by the district court Friday to guarantee no infringement of the constitutional rights of the preachers.
“Preachers are regularly arrested at this event each year,” said Wenger. “But free speech rights apply to everyone. The city cannot take sides.”
