Street Preacher Battles City of Portland for Blocking Him from Sharing Pro-Life Views by Deborah Bunting for CBN News
GNN Note – You have all the “free speech” you would like, of course, it has to be approved, but, hey, it’s “free speech” according to the 16 people in Portland, Or.
I hope you are ready for uprisings in your area as this situation is not going to end well. I pray that I am wrong, but the signs are, literally, everywhere.
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A street preacher who was ticketed and told to stop talking to passers-by in a Portland, Oregon public park is now suing the city for more than $300,000 for violating his free speech rights.
In June, Mark Mayberry was in Portland’s Waterfront Park holding a pro-life sign, handing out tracts and talking to people about the Gospel and his views against abortion. It was then that a park officer came up to him and told him he must stop what he was doing. Mayberry refused, saying he had a constitutional right to speak.
KOIN-TV reports that’s when the park employee wrote him a ticket for “failure to obey a park officer” and told him he could not come back to the park for 30 days. The citation also accused Mayberry of harassment for speaking to people in the park.
Oregon Live reports Ray Hacke of the Pacific Justice Institute defended Mayberry’s actions in the lawsuit filed on his behalf.
“While Plaintiff expressed views that were undoubtedly controversial to some, his speech and conduct were civil, peaceful, and by no means incendiary,” Hacke wrote.
Mayberry challenged the tickets in July, and the charges were thrown out. But his attorney says he’s not been back to the park.
“Despite being cleared to resume free speech activities at Waterfront Park without fear of penalty, Plaintiff has not returned to the park – largely due to well-founded fears that he will be cited again,” Hacke writes.
