Colorado: Centennial Institute director kicked out of state Senate for wearing pro-life sweatshirt

Jeff Hunt was removed for wearing clothing that expressed "political statements." There is no clause in the state congressional rules that prohibits this.

El director del Centennial Institute, Jeff Hunt, es expulsado del Senado por llevar una sudadera provida — (Capture @jeffhunt / Twitter)

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Verónica Silveri Pazos

24 de marzo, 2023

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Centennial Institute Director Jeff Hunt was ejected from the Colorado Senate floor for wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the words "Pro-Life U."

"Pro-Life U" is the trademark of the Centennial Institute, a think tank based at Colorado Christian University "mobilizing ideas on faith, family, and freedom to strengthen America’s future."

Congressional rules do not prohibit political messages on clothing

There is no clause in the "gallery rules" on the state congressional website that prohibits political messages on clothing. However, the officer who removed Hunt from the stand showed him a small sign outside that does say that expressing "political statements" is not allowed.

However, the supposed rule was not applied equally when a group of students wearing clothing expressing anti-Second Amendment views were allowed to sit on the rostrum in January. Hunt commented to The Federalist:

It takes about five minutes to Google and find that there’s plenty of other examples of people wearing political apparel into the Senate gallery. ... It seems bizarre that on one hand, they’re allowing a more liberal progressive worldview to be able to speak freely, but then the conservative worldview is not … It definitely doesn’t seem to be fair and equitable.

Pro-Life U "is not just a political statement"

Hunt was visiting the Senate on the occasion of Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) Day. There, along with other volunteers, he was working to "dispel common misinformation and myths about pregnancy resource centers, and educate Colorado lawmakers and the public about the good work they actually do." The director claimed that his sweatshirt was representative of the Centennial Institute:

I explained to [the Sergeant at Arms] that [my ‘Pro-Life U’ sweatshirt] is our university name. This isn’t just a political statement. This is our identity and CCU’s identity, and we have submitted a DBA — a Doing Business As — and a trademark on this. And I’m just representing our university here.

Despite his justification, Hunt's defense came to no avail, and he was removed from the stands. The director believes that what happened to him is a matter of "constitutional right to free speech":

If you can [wear political apparel] in polling places, then it seems rather bizarre that you can’t have it in a public place like the Senate gallery, where it’s open to the public and should have free speech protections.