New York Post reports that a New York state trial court judge tossed a discrimination lawsuit brought by Greg Piatek, a President Trump supporter, against a West Village bar.  According to the article, Piatek was told to leave the bar because he was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat shortly after Trump took office.  According to Piatek, he was told: “Anyone who supports Trump – or believes in what you believe – is not welcome here!  And you need to leave right now because we won’t serve you!”  Piatek sued in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleging that being kicked out of the bar “offended his sense of being American.”  Piatek claimed that by wearing the hat he was paying spiritual tribute to the victims of 9/11, and that wearing the hat was part of his spiritual belief.  When asked by the judge how bar employees were supposed to know of Piatek’s unusual religious beliefs, Piatek’s lawyer responded: “They were aware he was wearing the hat.”  When pressed by the judge as to the number of members in the spiritual program, Piatek conceded that it is a creed of one.  The Court ruled that supporting President Trump is not a religion, and dismissed the lawsuit: “Plaintiff does not state any faith-based principle to which the hat relates.”

Original photograph by nevermindtheendsome rights reserved.

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Photo of Evan Seeman Evan Seeman

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of…

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of an amicus curiae brief at the petition stage before the United States Supreme Court in a RLUIPA case entitled City of San Leandro v. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

Evan serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the APA’s Planning & Law Division. He also serves as the Chair of the Planning & Zoning Section of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, and is the former Co-Chair of its Municipal Law Section. He has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list as a Rising Star in the area of Land Use Law for 2013 and 2014. He received his B.A. in political science and Russian studies (with honors) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was selected as the President’s Fellow in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Evan received his Juris Doctor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the Connecticut Law Review. While in law school, he interned with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General in the environmental department, and served as a judicial intern for the judges of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. Following law school, Evan clerked for the Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel of the Connecticut Appellate Court.