| To Protest
Pride March in Greenwich Village Pastor
Rusfeldt Got No Injunction Loses Trial
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 18 – 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, noted
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.
On June 23, 2022
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."
On June 24, 2022
Judge Castel denied the
injunction.
Jump cut to June
2025: "Based on favorable
developments with the Jury
Clerk, the Court will be able
to commence jury selection at
11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 16,
2025."
On June 16 Inner
City Press went. Videos from
Washington Square Park in
front of NYU's library were
shown; on the witness stand
the plaintiff said he'd asked
the police to go get
barricades from somewhere else
and set them up, to give some
breathing room - for the First
Amendment.
On June 18 the
City's lawyer called the
plaintiff a liar. And, that
same day, the jury returned
"verdict in favor of
defendant."
The case is
Rusfeldt v. City of New York,
et al., 1:22-cv-594
(Castel)
***
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