Flag-burning political activist sues State College, alleges violation of First Amendment
An activist known for publicly burning flags in protest of politicians and political ideologies filed a federal lawsuit Thursday that accused State College of violating the First Amendment’s free speech clause.
Gene Stilp’s 18-page lawsuit alleged the borough’s open burning ordinance is unconstitutional and overly broad because it bans burning flags as an act of political protest.
The ordinance, Stilp’s attorney wrote, has “chilled” his exercise of free speech.
State College declined comment. The borough has not received notice of the lawsuit as of Tuesday, spokeswoman Kayla Lafferty wrote in an email.
Borough police Assistant Chief Matthew Wilson and Capt. Greg Brauser spoke with Stilp for more than five minutes before his November demonstration in front of the State College Municipal Building.
Brauser told Stilp “you can’t burn flags” and said there are “no exceptions” to the ordinance.
“The ordinance is written like that, otherwise every fraternity house in town could say, ‘We got a volunteer firemen living here. We’re going to start our own fire,’ ” Brauser said.
Stilp went on to burn the campaign flag of former President Donald Trump in a steel trash can. The demonstration lasted about two minutes.
Attorney Aaron D. Martin wrote Stilp was issued a citation that was later “dismissed without explanation.”
State College is at least the second Centre County municipality to be sued by Stilp in the past year. He sued Bellefonte in February and reached a $10,000 settlement with the borough in November.
He has sued more than a handful of municipalities throughout Pennsylvania and has walked away with settlements that have netted him at least tens of thousands of dollars.
The demonstrations, Stilp said, will continue. None are planned for Centre County, though that could change.
“Centre County has a lot of municipalities in it,” Stilp said. “So I’m sure we’ll be there in the future.”