SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS, September 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — Office Depot is back-pedaling on its claims that a pro-life flier violated company policy because it had “hate material” and “graphic material” on it.
According to a press release sent to media earlier today, Office Depot CEO Roland Smith said, “We sincerely apologize to Ms. Goldstein for her experience and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs. We invite her to return to Office Depot if she still wishes to print the flyer.”
The release also said that Office Depot has “determined that the content of Ms. Goldstein’s flyer is not a clear violation of the company’s policy.”
The statement comes after less than two days of legal pressure from the Thomas More Society, which is representing pro-life advocate Maria Goldstein. Goldstein's lawyer, Thomas Olp, told LifeSiteNews that Office Depot violated her religious liberty by refusing to print a pro-life prayer for conversion.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Goldstein — a pro-life Roman Catholic — had ordered 500 copies of “A Prayer for the Conversion of Planned Parenthood,” written by Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. The prayer calls for God to “bring an end to the killing of children in the womb, and bring an end to the sale of their body parts. Bring conversion to all who do this, and enlightenment to all who advocate it.”
The prayer also decries “the evil that has been exposed in Planned Parenthood and in the entire abortion industry,” and the flier includes abortion statistics.
“Anyone can order printing at Office Depot,” Thomas Olp, Thomas More Society special counsel attorney, said in a statement. “But because[Maria] Goldstein’s flyers had religious content—namely calling for prayer for Planned Parenthood—Office Depot refused to complete her order.”
“This is a blatant violation of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance, which forbids public businesses from discriminating based on religion,” said Olp.
Olp told LifeSiteNews that the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance (HRO) is a “public accommodations law” whose point “is to say 'if you're out there servicing the general public, then you should treat everybody equally.'”
Instead, says Olp, Office Depot declared that Goldstein “is persecuting pro-abortion people.”
The company initially said that it followed the law, and that Goldstein's fliers were in violation of company policy. Just hours after sending a letter to Olp, however, it reversed position.
In initial comments given to the Tribune, spokesperson Karen Denning said that company policy prohibits “the copying of any type of material that advocates any form of racial or religious discrimination or the persecution of certain groups of people. It also prohibits copying any type of copyrighted material.”
“The flier contained material that advocates the persecution of people who support abortion rights,” said Denning, who also said that Office Depot accommodated Goldstein by informing her she could use self-serve machines.
Goldstein declined, saying it would have been an inconvenience, and went elsewhere to print her copies. Office Depot's policy would have allowed Goldstein to print off her materials without issue if she had used the self-serve machines.
Office Depot's original position was further explained in a letter sent to the Thomas More Society by Office Depot's Assistant General Counsel. That letter claimed Goldstein had not only been accommodated, but that local store employees had copyright concerns with the printing of the fliers.
Additionally, said the letter, Office Depot was concerned about violations of its policies related to “graphic material” and “hate material.” According to the attorney, Goldstein's fliers included the words “killing of children in the womb” and “the grisly trade in baby body parts”; they claimed it characterized abortionists and women who get abortions as “evil”; and it pushed for closure of “death camps in our midst” — and thus violated company policies.
“Office Depot's decision was not based in any part on the fact that the message here is couched in terms of Ms. Goldstein's religious beliefs. In other words, the language at issue would violate Office Depot's policy regardless of the content surrounding it.”
“Thus,” says the letter, “Office Depot's actions have violated no laws.”
The prayer, which can be read here, does not describe any individuals as evil. It describes the abortion industry and actions conducted by the industry as “evil.”
Office Depot's argument, says Olp, holds no water in light of the Cook County ordinance. “Office Depot has not indicated they have a religious objection to this copy,” he explained, asking “how much expression is there in pressing a copy button?”
Office Depot “is complaining about my client's religious expression,” not disagreeing and claiming that it has its “own religious expression.”
Olp said Goldstein's case differs from one that has dominated headlines in recent weeks — clerk Kim Davis' refusal to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples, which led to her temporary jailing. “I think that Davis said 'My name is on this,'” Olp explained. “The court basically agreed with her, and said 'let's take your name off this.'”
The Executive Director of the Cook County Department of Human Rights and Ethics declined to comment, telling LifeSiteNews that “to preserve the impartiality of the Commission’s investigative and adjudicative process…the Commission generally does not comment on media reports in which private parties indicate that they are contemplating taking legal action under the County’s Human Rights Ordinance.”
Olp had threatened to go to the County if Office Depot did not respond to his September 10 letter within five days.