[78-L] If this is Liberty, I'll take vanilla

[David Lennick]

NEW YORK - A baseball fan who says he was ejected from Yankee Stadium by police 
after he left his seat to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless 
America" sued the New York Yankees and the city on Wednesday.

A baseball fan is fighting NY Yankees 'God Bless America' ejection

Larry Neumeister, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

15/04/2009 7:20:00 PM

NEW YORK - A baseball fan who says he was ejected from Yankee Stadium by police 
after he left his seat to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless 
America" sued the New York Yankees and the city on Wednesday.

Bradford Campeau-Laurion says in his federal lawsuit that his rights were 
violated at an Aug. 26 game between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox when he 
tried to pass a police officer.

The lawsuit said the officer didn't let him take a step before grabbing his 
right arm and twisting it behind him.

It said two officers marched him down several ramps to the stadium's exit, 
where he was pushed out as one officer told him to leave the country if he 
didn't like it.

Campeau-Laurion, a director of Web productions for a media company, does not 
participate in religious services and objects to being required to do so, the 
lawsuit said.

He is proud to be an American but objects to being required to participate in 
displays of patriotism, it added.

"God Bless America," written by Irving Berlin in 1918, was played at big league 
ballparks throughout the country when baseball resumed after the Sept. 11, 
2001, terrorist attacks.

It was discontinued in some cities the following seasons but remained a fixture 
at Yankees games, at which security personnel and ushers use chains to block 
off some exits while it's played.

City lawyer Muriel Goode-Trufant said the city hadn't seen the lawsuit but 
planned to review it thoroughly. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a 
ruling that the city and the Yankees acted unconstitutionally.

Police spokesman Paul J. Browne said the officers, who were being paid by the 
Yankees to work at the Bronx stadium, ejected Campeau-Laurion, 30, after they 
"observed a male cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a 
disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol."

He said the officers "decided to eject him rather than subject others to his 
offensive behaviour."

The lawsuit said Campeau-Laurion, who lives in Queens, and a friend "enjoyed 
the game quietly," though there were rowdy young men seated a few rows away.

After buying a second beer an hour after his first, Campeau-Laurion remained in 
his seat, eating peanuts and watching the game, it said.

A Yankees spokeswoman, Alice McGillion, said the team had no comment.

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties 
Union, said it was a "troubling example of compelled patriotism" to force fans 
to remain in the stands for the playing of the song.

"It's patriotism being imposed on people on a mass scale," he said. "It's the 
first person we know of who's actually been physically thrown out of Yankee 
Stadium, but we certainly know of many other people who have expressed concern 
about the policy."

The Yankees play their first game at a new stadium Thursday.