Pro-Life supporters told the Washington Monument is a First Amendment-free zone
Opinion by Christopher Tremoglie, Washington Examiner, 2/24/23
The Smithsonian wasn’t the only Washington, D.C. institution that was hostile toward pro-life supporters during the March for Life on Jan. 20. Three pro-life supporters were booted from the Washington Monument — twice — by local authorities on the day of the rally.
The women were setting up a table to provide some fellow pro-life supporters with bagels and coffee when a park ranger told them they were in a “First Amendment-free zone” and had to move out of the granite plaza surrounding the famous obelisk. They relocated on the grass, inches next to the plaza, with the approval of the park ranger. Later, a police officer approached the ladies and told them they were allegedly “getting complaints” about their table being on the path. Police told them they had to leave, and the women complied.
Yet, given their experience, one should recall the summer of 2020 and the civil unrest that occurred throughout Washington, D.C.
Black Lives Matter and antifa could wreak havoc throughout the nation’s capital, burning buildings, assaulting people, rioting, and looting, and the police did nothing. Yet, three women providing bagels and coffee, holding signs and wearing buttons encouraging people not to kill babies, was too raucous for the D.C. police.
“So we had been in that exact spot last year with no issue. We used the stone benches as our table for materials to hand out. But this year, from the start, I felt something was off, like we were being watched from the staff as soon as we started to set up,” said Donna Molloy, one of the women involved. “While bringing things up, you could see the staff coming out of the monument and looking at what we had dropped off. And when we started to set up, the rangers and security outside the monument were just watching until a ranger came up from the street and told us we couldn’t be there.”
Information from the National Park Service’s website advertises it as a place where people have “exercised their First Amendment rights since its creation in 1791.” While it does state that the “granite plaza that encircles the monument” is a restricted area, it is odd to call it a “First Amendment-free zone,” especially at a monument to honor one of our country’s Founding Fathers who championed free speech.
“Just say it, ‘First amendment-free zone’ at a monument celebrating the men who fought for our freedom. It’s mind-boggling,” Molloy said.
But while that area might have been restricted, they should have been allowed to set up on the grass next to it, according to what the park ranger told the women and the rules listed on the website. It states: “All demonstrations with more than 25 people require a free permit to address potential safety and resource protection considerations and to avoid conflicts with other permitted activities. Demonstrations include picketing, speechmaking, marching, vigils, religious services, and other activities that involve communicating and expressing views or grievances with one or more people with an expectation to draw a crowd of onlookers.”
Three women are significantly less than 25 people. A table with pro-life signs and buttons could be considered a “demonstration.” However, when the police told them to leave, there weren’t any large groups of people or confrontations. Furthermore, D.C. police seemed to take more action to stop three women giving out bagels and coffee than they did when BLM and antifa were assaulting innocent people, lighting cars on fire, and vandalizing buildings in 2020. Everyone seemed to have First Amendment rights anywhere in the city when that happened.
And given what the world saw in 2020 and what she experienced in Jan. 2023, Molloy felt like her group was targeted.
“It started first with the staring, then the ranger came and told us where we couldn’t be. Which OK, we obeyed the laws and moved off the circle and set up on the path just off to the side so people could walk by. As we continued to set up, they continued to stare. About twenty minutes later, a police officer approached us saying people complained we blocked the path,” Molloy said. “So the officer was telling us the monument staff complained or didn’t like us there and called the cops. Tell me, does that seem targeted?”
With the recent incident at the Smithsonian and then the way the authorities treated these people at the Washington Monument, it’s safe to say that there appear to be two sets of rules for demonstrators in the nation’s capital.
There are those from Black Lives Matter and antifa who benefit from the First Amendment, and then there are pro-life supporters who don’t appear to be guaranteed theirs. It’s disgraceful bullying and intimidation of those who support a baby’s right to life, and it must stop.