Pro-life activist Ryan Bomberger has been calling the NAACP the National Association for the Abortion of Colored People for years now as a way of criticizing the groups abortion advocacy. A judge has ruled that he’s not allowed to say that anymore.
Seriously.
Hampton Roads reports:
U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson this week ordered the Virginia Beach man and his nonprofit to stop referring to the 105-year-old civil rights organization as the “National Association for the Abortion of Colored People.”
Jackson also ordered Bomberger’s The Radiance Foundation – an organization with a Christian worldview that advocates for adoption and involved fathers, among other things – to pay unspecified court costs.
“Radiance is not prevented from criticizing the NAACP’s positions or activities, but may not present such critiques in a manner that is likely to confuse the public,” Jackson wrote, explaining the altered name amounted to trademark infringement.
In a statement, Bomberger called the ruling a “frightening assault on our First Amendment rights.” He did not say whether he would appeal.
“Judge Jackson’s decision denies the right to openly criticize or satirize an organization’s documented actions in news commentary,” he said.
Does anyone actually think that anyone would read Bomberger’s statement on his website and become so confused about the actual name of the NAACP? This is just awful.
And this is not an isolated incident. Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case Susan B. Anthony List v. Steve Driehaus. SBA List petitioned the high court to allow their First Amendment challenge to Ohio’s “false statement” law to proceed on the grounds that the statute empowers a state agency to determine what constitutes true or false political speech. In 2010, SBA List attempted to erect billboards to expose then Rep. Steve Driehaus for supporting taxpayer funded abortion by voting for the Affordable Care Act. SBA List was prevented from doing so because of the Ohio law, and was threatened with prosecution if it engaged in similar speech about Driehaus or other candidates in Ohio.
Religious people are being stripped of their rights. Make no mistake about it.
April 28, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Those who support abortion (and homosexuality as well) are so sensitive.
April 29, 2014 at 1:57 am
I can't believe this. It is obviously parody or satirical speech, NOT trademark infringement. I am flabbergasted.
April 29, 2014 at 2:35 am
This can't be for real!
Thanks to you, judge hitler.
I will now "always" refer to the nazi naacp as:
The national "eugenics" association for abortion of coloured people in amerika.
The national "murder incorp" association for abortion of coloured people in amerika.
The national "hypocrisy" association for abortion of coloured people in amerika.
April 29, 2014 at 3:16 am
So you guys wouldn't come after me if I started loudly referring to it as the "United States Conference of Child-Raping Bishops"? Or the "National Association of Child-RapeChaplains"? You sure?
April 29, 2014 at 3:24 am
If Bomberger appeals, I predict this case will cause more people to think about the decimation of minorities by abortion than if his satire had been ignored. (see "Streisand Effect," tinyurl.com/2qbvbr )
April 29, 2014 at 3:26 am
You just did, and we won't.