The MTA has recognized the justice of our position in our lawsuit, and has agreed to run our ad as originally submitted. This is a great victory for freedom of speech, and we are grateful to our attorneys David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise for mounting such an effective defense against politically correct censorship.
On Friday I filed a lawsuit against the MTA (go here), SIOA Lawsuit against NYC: Bloomberg’s MTA Refuses to Allow 911 Images: Bans Ground Zero Bus Campaign
Today, the MTA caved and the original ad will run. Not the revised images, the true image
NEW YORK (WPIX) – A group opposed to the idea of a mosque being constructed near Ground Zero has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after the transit agency refused to run an ad that featured a mosque along with an image of the World Trade terror attacks.
Human rights organization American Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America hoped to run the ad on city’s buses, however the organization claims the MTA requested too many changes, which violated its freedom of speech.
The initial ad reportedly showed a plane slamming into the Twin Towers and a rendering of the “WTC Mega Mosque” with the words, “WHY THERE?”
Pamela Geller, executive director of Stop Islamization of America and the American Freedom Defense Initiative,said the MTA requested several changes to the ad through its advertising company, CBS Outdoor, after Geller reportedly signed a contract and shelled out $9,5000 for the ad last month.
Geller said she made the requested changes but grew irritated after CBS Outdoor said the MTA refused to show a connection between 9/11 and the proposed Ground Zero mosque. In addition, CBS Outdoor said the MTA thought the ad was too controversial.
The MTA claimed that it refused to feature the ads because it contained a “9/11 image,” specifically “a plane,” and associated the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque slated to be built at Ground Zero with the September 11, 2001 jihad terror attacks.
