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Official English group accuses Ohio civil rights commission of 'inventing new discrimination law' to outlaw free speech
ARLINGTON, Va. - K.C. McAlpin, executive director of ProEnglish, a national organization working for official English, accused the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) of inventing new discrimination law in an effort to suppress political speech it disagrees with. McAlpin said the OCRC abused its authority when it issued a complaint Jan. 17th accusing Tom Ullum, owner of a bar named the Pleasure Inn in Mason, Ohio, of discriminating against "persons of non-American national origin or ancestry" for posting a sign in the window saying "For Service Speak English." McAlpin labeled the grounds for the complaint "a complete invention that has no basis in law or common sense. The Commission is saying that 'non-American' is a protected class and that the sign discriminates against that class of persons regardless of the language they speak." McAlpin added, "That's ridiculous." Ohio law says it is unlawful for any proprietor "of a place of public accommodation" to deny the "full enjoyment of the accommodation based on race, color, religion sex, national origin, disability, age of ancestry." McAlpin asked, "Does a sign requesting customers speak English discourage a Jamaican whose native language is English from entering?" He noted that English is now an official language in fifty-one countries, the vast majority of whom are in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. At the Dec. 15th hearing the OCRC held on the original complaint filed against Ullum by Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME), a local organization, Ullum testified that his bar had never refused service to any person regardless of their fluency in English. Ullum also said he has been posting signs in his bar's window expressing his personal and political views on a wide range of topics for many years. He testified that the sign was meant to express his support for preserving English as the common language of the United States and making it the official language of Ohio. McAlpin said that the OCRC is not going to court because it knows its allegation is baseless. Instead, the agency notified Ullum it has scheduled a second public hearing on the complaint August 15. McAlpin said a second hearing was a waste of time and that rather than drop its ridiculous complaint, the OCRC was abusing its authority to harass Ullum because he had refused the agency's demand to remove the sign. ProEnglish has given pro-bono legal assistance to Ullum. McAlpin also represented Ullum at the Dec. 15th OCRC hearing when his attorney could not be present |
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