PETA claimed a free speech victory by reaching a settlement in a lawsuit against the Rock Springs, Wyoming airport, which had refused to let it advertise a message criticizing leather luggage. The airport will pay PETA $35,000 in legal fees and allow it to advertise as it does others. In its suit, PETA claimed that the airport, which advertised rodeo events on various platforms, invented a reason to reject PETA’s carry-on criticism. The airport’s actions were unconstitutional, the suit asserted. 'PETA is celebrating this victory for the First Amendment and for cows who don’t want to be tormented and killed for their skins,' Asher Smith, PETA Foundation’s director of litigation, said in a statement.
ANGUS THUERMER JR.:The animal rights group PETA claimed a free speech victory saying it reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the Rock Springs airport, which had refused to let it advertise a message criticizing leather luggage… In its suit, PETA claimed that the airport, which advertised rodeo events on various platforms, invented a reason to reject PETA’s carry-on criticism… The airport’s actions were unconstitutional, the suit asserted. Further, travelers can easily find vegan leather for their carry-ons, the group said.
In the heart of Wyoming’s cattle and rodeo country, where cowboys ride leather saddles, cowgirls wear leather boots and most everybody else has leather gloves, airport officials blocked People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from buying advertising urging fliers not to travel with leather luggage. The airport will pay PETA $35,000 in legal fees and allow it to advertise as it does others, the animal rights group said.
“PETA is celebrating this victory for the First Amendment and for cows who don’t want to be tormented and killed for their skins,” Asher Smith, PETA Foundation’s director of litigation, said in a statement. The rejected ad depicts a leather handbag with a cow’s head and legs — it looks to be a red-and-white Holstein dairy cow seldom seen in the area. Next to the image is the question, “Was she killed to make your carry-on?” SOURCE…
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