LOS ANGELES, CA – Liberty Counsel filed a reply brief to the U.S. District Court in Central California in Jenny Donnelly et al v. City of Los Angeles et al where city officials unlawfully denied a permit for a Christian gathering while approving non-religious events.

Liberty Counsel represents several organizers of the grassroots revival event Mayday USA, such as Jenny Donnelly, founder and president of Her Voice Movement, Inc., lead organizers Robert Donnelly, Ross Johnston, and Russell Johnson, lead pastor of The Pursuit, a Christian church in Washington. 

In May 2025, Los Angeles officials imposed lengthy administrative hurdles and ultimately rejected a permit to use Hollywood Boulevard for a Mayday USA event, which involved worship and speaking out against abortion, pornography, and human trafficking. Yet, the city permitted opposite viewpoints on the same street before and after their requested date, such as the 55th Annual LA Pride Parade, the Thai New Year Songkran Festival, and “No Kings Day” protests.

The plaintiffs seek an injunction restraining the city from continuing its unlawful permitting process in its current form, which violates the rights to free speech, religious exercise, and equal protection. They also seek equal access to traditional public forums in a manner similar to non-religious organizations.

In the brief, Liberty Counsel notes that the Mayday USA organizers chose Hollywood Boulevard, a traditional public forum, for its prominence and for the fact that the city had granted an event with an opposite message and viewpoint the following week—the LA Pride Parade. However, the city denied Mayday USA access over safety concerns expressing the event could “open a can of worms.” The denial of the location while granting it to different and opposite viewpoint holders treated secular activities more favorably than religious speech, which constitutes a First Amendment violation, wrote Liberty Counsel. 

“[City officials] had no problem ‘shutting down a major transit artery’ [for] the LA Pride, as they claim was such a significant concern to them for [Mayday’s] speech,” reads the brief.

Mayday USA’s lawsuit contends the city imposed many administrative “difficulties” on the event—none of which are codified in the city’s municipal code. The unconstitutional roadblocks included: 

• Organizers needed to conduct a petition of Hollywood Boulevard’s business owners and vendors to ensure at least 51 percent approved of Mayday’s expressive activity and speech.
• Requirements that organizers restructure its event without the use of a stage and move it away from Hollywood Boulevard despite allowing LA Pride to have a stage to espouse opposite viewpoints.
• The city’s permitting scheme failed to follow reasonable time limits where Mayday USA’s permit application decision was delayed until the last minute and ultimately denied.

“Defendants admit, 51 percent approval is a precondition to engaging in protected speech on Hollywood Boulevard,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to condition a speaker’s ability to speak on whether the community agrees with its speech. Defendants’ permitting scheme admittedly does precisely that in violation of the First Amendment.” 

Throughout the month of May 2025, the organizers planned Mayday USA revival events in five major U.S. cities—New York, Miami, Houston, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The five-city tour was a “Mayday” call for a nationwide Christian revival and to awaken America’s parents and politicians to the Gospel, and the need to protect children, families, and the nation’s religious freedoms. The events were permitted and held in the first four cities, though the City of Seattle conspicuously denied organizers their location of choice and only granted it to be held in a predominantly LGBTQ neighborhood. During the event, gender-confused and antifa rioters dressed in black and wearing face masks assaulted the Christians in attendance where police eventually had to shut the event down. Liberty Counsel has also filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle on behalf of the Mayday USA organizers. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Requiring government approval for religious speech is an unlawful restraint under the First Amendment. The City of Los Angeles may not pick and choose which groups are allowed First Amendment rights of free expression or religious freedom. The Constitution is clear that religious freedom is inalienable. Liberty Counsel is defending this ministry because silencing the peaceful public expression of Christian viewpoints cannot be tolerated. The city’s unconstitutional permitting scheme cannot withstand First Amendment scrutiny and causes irreparable harm to religious liberty. Los Angeles city officials must be held accountable.”

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