Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson plans to go forward with a rally Saturday afternoon a park in Vancouver, Washington, despite a federal judge’s refusal to issue an emergency order that would prevent him from being arrested or prosecuted.
Gibson filed suit Nov. 30, claiming that some of Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent COVID-19 restrictions violate constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties, the Seattle Times reported. He described himself in the lawsuit as a “street preacher,” and asked the court to grant an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order that would prevent police from stopping, arresting or charging him at a protest that violates those restrictions.
In particular he’s angry about the ban on congregational singing during religious services, but not elsewhere, said his attorney Angus Lee. Gibson believes the ban “is unconstitutionally restricting religious freedoms.”
The judge said the “emergency” was of Gibson’s own making because he filed suit just five days before his planned protest. “Gibson’s generalized claims against the Governor’s COVID-19 Proclamations as presently pled are hypothetical, are not ripe, and are not justiciable,” the judge wrote.
Gibson plans to hold his rally anyway. The event was planned to include 20 protesters who will gather in a softball diamond standing 6 feet apart, and then pray and sing for a half hour. Lee said Gibson fears he will be targeted by police and prosecutors for his protest.
In a video posted after the decision, Gibson said the state is “targeting Christians” with its restrictions and that they have made it “illegal to worship.” He said that since the state raised the limit on the number of people who can gather outside, more people may show up for the protest.
Patriot Prayer is a right-wing Vancouver-based extremist group frequently involved in confrontations with anti-fascist groups and it has sometimes drawn white supremacists to its rallies.
