Banned apparently by the Biden administration

They’re coming for you next: As part of the annual pro-life March for Life demonstration in DC on January 20, 2023, volunteers running a food table were forced to move away from the Washington Monument because, as one park ranger told them, they were in a “First Amendment-free zone.”

The women were setting up a table to provide some fellow pro-life supporters with bagels and coffee when a park ranger told them they were in a “First Amendment-free zone” and had to move out of the granite plaza surrounding the famous obelisk. They relocated on the grass, inches next to the plaza, with the approval of the park ranger. Later, a police officer approached the ladies and told them they were allegedly “getting complaints” about their table being on the path. Police told them they had to leave, and the women complied.

These women had set up the same table at the same spot the year before, with no problems.

Though the granite plaza itself is considered a “restricted zone” where “Activities may only occur within these areas on specified dates to maintain the contemplative and respectful environment of the memorial,” these women were only running a craft service table, an activity that the park service only the year before did not consider a violation of this rule.

Furthermore, we know this was not the reason the ranger and police officer moved to remove them. By his own words, the ranger called this area a “First Amendment-free zone,” thus telling them that they were not allowed to express their opinions there and had to leave, even though the park website itself specifically contradicts this ranger, proudly stating that.

The Mall has served as a venue for people to exercise their First Amendment rights nearly since its creation in 1791. All demonstrations with more than 25 people require a free permit to address potential safety and resource protection considerations and to avoid conflicts with other permitted activities.

Since three women does not equal 25, it appears no permit was needed for these women and their food table. In a free society of good will, no one would have had a problem, and since that was what America once was, such activities were allowed at the monument for decades, without problem.

We no longer live in such a society. It appears a general order had gone out in 2023 from the Biden administration, ordering officials at many Washington museums and monuments to hassle and blacklist, as frequently as possible, the March-for-Life demonstrators, and those officials and the personnel who worked for them were entirely okay with such orders, eager and glad to oblige.

Thus, students wearing blue wool caps that said “pro-life” were kicked out of the Air & Space museum, while others wearing pro-life shirts were prevented from viewing the Bill of Rights and the Constitution at the National Archives, for the same reason.

And thus, the Washington Monument suddenly became a “First Amendment-free zone,” but only for pro-life demonstrators. Strange how the Constitution and Bill of Rights suddenly did not apply to this government-operated monument, when those who were politically opposed to the present administration wished to be there.