| To Protest
Pride March June 26 in Greenwich
Village Pastor Rusfeldt Re-Request
Injunction
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 23 – A pastor who
protested the Gay Price
Festival in New York City on
the last weekend in June 2021
has filed a Federal lawsuit
against NYPD - seemingly in
advance of the last weekend of
2022.
On June 10, 2022 U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge P.
Kevin Castel held a
proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it.
The pastor,
Aden Rusfeldt of the Key of
David Christian Center, notes
in his complaint that last
year on June 27, 2021
Washington Square East between
West 4th Street and Washington
Place was closed to vehicular
traffic but not to pedestrian
traffic.
His
complaint states: "Pastor Aden
sincerely holds the religious
belief that LGBT lifestyles
and behaviors are immoral and
antithetical to the will of
God."
In 2021 he was
arrested and charged with
Disorderly Conduct. The
discussion on June 10 included
the right to bear a seven foot
metal pole. Now he said he
"wishes to return to the Pride
Festival next year" - that is,
this month.
He is
asking Judge Castel to enjoin
NYPD's "heckler's veto policy"
and to declare the underlying
New York law unconstitionally
vague.
The City's
Corporation Counsel has replied,
among other things, that "
plaintiff alleges, inter alia,
that he was subjected to
deprivation of freedom of
speech, deprivation of free
exercise of religion,
unreasonable seizure,
deprivation of equal
protection, and deprivation of
due process stemming from
incidents that occurred
on June 27, 2021 in connection
with plaintiff’s protest
activity. (See Complaint,
Dkt. No. 1). Before we
can adequately respond to the
complaint, we will need to
conduct an investigation
into the facts of the case.
This Office still needs the
executed authorization for
the release of the June
27, 2021 arrest. An
enlargement of time will allow
this Office time to
receive the executed
authorization for the release
of the June 27, 2021." Full
letter on Patreon here.
Judge Castel said
he will rule on the papers on
the injunction request - a
status report was due June 14.
On June 16,
Pastor Rusfeldt's counsel
wrote to Judge Castel that
"the parties agreed to terms
of a stipulated arrangement...
which will vitiate the need to
proceed with plaintiff's
pending motion for a
preliminary injunction. The
terms are final but have not
been reduced to a formal
writing yet." Inner City Press
asked, so what are they?
On June 23 Pastor
Rusfeldt's lawyer wrote in
again, that the deal he
thought was final was being
reneged on by the NYPD, so
"plaintiff respectfully
requests that the Court issue
a ruling on his Motion for
Preliminary Injunction in
advance of the NYC Pride March
on June 26, 2022." Watch this
site.
For now, the next
conference would be on October
24 at 11:30 pm.
The case is
Rusfeldt v. City of New York,
et al., 22-cv-594
(Castel)
***
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