Nixing Gay Right Is Anti-Queer Bias, #WalkAway Says
Brandon Straka’s lawyers argue he faced discrimination for his “expression of LGBT identity”
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
The attorneys representing
the founder of the
#WalkAway movement
and two of his colleagues
in a discrimination and defamation
lawsuit against the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community
Center, two staffers there,
and two individuals who objected
to #WalkAway holding a town hall
meeting at The Center appear to be
advancing a legal theory that refusing
to rent space to LGBTQ people
because they are not embracing leftleaning
political beliefs is the same
as refusing to rent to them because
they are LGBTQ.
“Mr. Straka and #WalkAway
promote alternative expressions
of LGBT identity by embracing the
true meaning of civil libertarianism,”
the attorneys wrote in their
amended complaint that was fi led
Brandon Straka and his lawyers appear to be arguing that gay conservatism is a distinct sexual orientation.
in State Supreme Court in New York
County, referring to Brandon Straka,
the #WalkAway founder . “The
LGBT Center… violates their own
TWITTER/ BRANDON STRAKA
mission in addition to engaging in
unlawful discriminatory practices
by specifi cally targeting particular
members of the LGBT Community
POLITICS
whose expression of LGBT identity
do not conform to the subjectively
homogenous community for which
they advocate.”
Straka, who is gay, founded the
movement in 2018. It is intended to
convince Democrats to abandon the
Democratic Party and join conservatives
in support of Donald Trump.
Earlier this year, Straka and three
LGBTQ colleagues — Blaire White,
Mike Harlow, and Rob Smith — proposed
to hold a town hall meeting at
The Center to promote #WalkAway.
Straka signed a contract with The
Center and paid a $650 rental fee.
Following a community outcry, The
Center canceled the event and returned
the fee to Straka. He sued
in state court in June alleging that
he, Harlow, and White had been defamed
and discriminated against.
Smith is not involved in the law-
➤ #WALKAWAY, continued on p.15
“ I got the
flu vaccine
…not the FLU ‘‘
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GayCityNews.com | November 7 - November 20, 2019 13
/GayCityNews.com
