TRI In The News
Religious Liberties Group Slams Proposal to Curtail Free Speech in Colonial Williamsburg
From The Daily Press
Original article available here
A Charlottesville-based civil liberties organization is lambasting the City of Williamsburg for a proposed ordinance limiting where people can express their views.
The Rutherford Institute sent a hard-hitting, five-page letter on Wednesday to the Williamsburg City Council asking the board "not to succumb to the authoritarian impulse" to limit public expression in the Colonial Williamsburg area.
"It would be a profound misstep by the Williamsburg City Council to adopt an ordinance that flies in the face of the First Amendment guarantee to freedom of speech," said John Whitehead, the president of the Rutherford Institute — which often advocates for religious liberty causes.
The proposal would limit demonstrations and protests to certain "presentation areas" at each end of Merchants Square, according to the Virginia Gazette. But everywhere else in the area — including on sidewalks — you'd need a permit to express such views.
The Rutherford Institute said the city's proposal appears aimed at street preachers operating on or near Duke of Gloucester Street. Some preachers have recently gotten into confrontations with visitors. But Whitehead argued that there are ways to stop potential arguments, such as enforcing noise ordinances, without stifling speech.
It's wrong to discriminate based on the content of a speaker, "while permitting Colonial interpreters and others to engage in the same type of speech, only 200 years removed in content," Whitehead quipped.
"The City of Williamsburg remains one of our lone links to a time when communities had town squares — public areas where people gathered to exchange information, ideas and to do business," he wrote. "These served a vital function in America's history, allowing opinions — whether good or bad — to be aired and debated."
"It is my hope that the City Council will recognize the duty they owe, not only to the members of the community who wish to freely exercise their constitutional rights within the city limits but also to our forebears who sacrificed life and limb to secure the freedoms we have today," Whitehead wrote.
The Virginia Gazette reported that after getting the letter, the Williamsburg City Council decided to table a vote on the matter scheduled for Thursday so its lawyer could look into the matter further.
