Thomas More
Society Demands Apology from Fort Wayne School Board
for Abuse of Pro-Life Advocates
(December 7, 2016 – Fort Wayne, IN) The Fort Wayne Public School Board has received
a letter from the Thomas More Society demanding an apology for the alleged
disturbing misconduct of South Side High School Principal Carlton Mable. On
November 18, 2016, Mable, in front of students, tried to block pro-life
advocates from displaying abortion-condemning signs on the public right of way
and prohibit them from providing students with pro-life information, even going
so far as to physically wrest a sign away from one pro-life advocate before
throwing it to the ground. Mable’s tirade, caught on video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_AsVZBFZk#action=share] and eventually halted by police, has resulted
in the demand issued by attorney Thomas M. Dixon, Thomas More Society Special
Counsel and President at Dixon, Wright & Associates, P.C. Acting on behalf
of Created Equal and individuals whose First Amendment rights were trampled by
Mable, the Thomas More Society has also asked the City of Fort Wayne for
reassurances of the continued protection of the pro-life advocates’
constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The letter details how Mable denied
Created Equal and its members the right to peaceably assemble and speak on a
public sidewalk adjacent to South Side High School by:
- aggressively approaching them
- verbally accosting them
- making threats towards them when he saw that he was being videotaped
- mischaracterizing a public sidewalk as being school property
- asserting a false right to “protect” students from being exposed to speech he deemed inappropriate
- forcefully taking property from them and throwing it into the street
- flouting and squelching their First Amendment rights in the presence of many students
The Thomas More Society letter
states, “Principal Mable trampled on rights that are enshrined in the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution, Articles 2, 3, 4 and 9 of the
Indiana Constitution, and are fiercely protected by the United States Supreme
Court. Our clients insist on the respect to which they are entitled. We seek
written apologies from Principal Mable and School Board Superintendent Dr.
Wendy Robinson, assurances from the School Board that this will not happen
again, and guarantees from the City of Fort Wayne that it will continue to
uphold free speech rights.”
Mark Harrington, National Director
of Created Equal, remarked, “Pro-life activists have been experiencing an
increase in vandalism and violence at high school campuses across the country.
Unfortunately, to some school officials, public sidewalks are considered their
own private property in which they feel they can wield control and censor free
speech. Creating unconstitutional ‘safe zones’ in the public square where
students can be shielded from unpleasant subjects does a disservice to our
youth, and does not prepare these young adults for the real world.”
Read the December
2, 2016, letter sent by Attorney Thomas M. Dixon to Fort Wayne School
Board here [https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Created-Equal-Demand-Ft-Wayne-Ltr.pdf].
View the video documenting South
Side High School Principal Carlton Mable’s actions against peaceful pro-life
advocates on the public right of way here
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG_AsVZBFZk#action=share]
About the Thomas More Society
The
Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to
restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. Headquartered
in Chicago and Omaha, the Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes
by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all
the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, visit www.thomasmoresociety.org
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