Protesters Enjoined From Disrupting Church Services Anywhere In U.S.

Two separate orders, one a consent decree and one a default judgment, were issued Monday by a Michigan federal district court in Mount Hope Church v. Bash Back!, (WD MI, July 11, 2011). The lawsuit grew out of a protest, infiltration and disruption of the Church's service in November 2008 by a self-described "Radical Trans/Queer" group. (See prior posting.)  The orders permanently enjoin the group and individual defendants from

disrupting a religious service anywhere in the United States by shouting, yelling, throwing objects, unfurling a banner or displaying any other sign not approved by the church, or by otherwise causing a disturbance.

The consent decree in the case of the individual defendants added: "The Defendants shall retain their right to engage in lawful First Amendment speech in a public forum." This qualification was not in the otherwise identical operative language of the default judgment against the organization itself.

The orders also permanently enjoin defendants "from conducting a protest on the private property of any place of worship in the United States" and "from blocking, impeding, or making unreasonably difficult ingress or egress to entrances and/or exits of any place of worship in the United States." Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release announcing the orders.