May 16, 2014
Three Mississippi businesses that are participating in the If You're Buying, We're Selling sticker campaign are currently demanding that the American Family Association retract statements that accused them of discriminating against Christians. The three businesses include The Golden Growler, The Keg and Barrel, and La Finestra.
The AFA issued a news release on its website Monday that stated:
"Ironically, this sticker represents the very promotion of discrimination…against freedom of religious convictions. Businesses that display this sticker believe Christians should be forced, by law, to embrace homosexuality and deny their faith in personal business practices."
The entire news release can be read on the AFA's website: http://action.afa.net/item.aspx?id=2147545307">http://action.afa.net/item.aspx?id=2147545307.
Attorney Alexander Ignatiev of Hattiesburg, who represents the three businesses, issued the following statements in a cease and desist letter to AFA President Timony Wildmon on Wednesday:
"These statements are defamatory and actionable per se under the laws of the State of Mississippi, because they accuse my clients of unlawfully discriminating against persons in violating of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1965, a felony . . . subjecting my clients to a penalty of up to ten years in prison. They are also materially false, and provably so, in connection with my clients, The Golden Growler, The Keg and Barrel, and La Finestra. These statements have been published with actual malice, which means that they have been published with reckless disregard for truthfulness, or with actual knowledge of their falsity, which removes any First Amendment protection from those statements."
Ignatiev is demanding that AFA remove the "materially false, reckless, unprotected statements" from the release within 7 days.
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