FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The South Florida Muslim Federation has filed a federal lawsuit against several people, businesses and Parkland city officials.
The SFMF, which is an umbrella organization representing 32 local Muslim organizations, made the announcement on Monday in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, along with the Muslim Legal Fund of America.
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The federal lawsuit names the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel & Convention Center, the City of Parkland, among other parties and according to the SFMF, it is due to the hotel’s decision to arbitrarily cancel the group’s annual conference, which was scheduled for Jan. 12 and 13 of next year.
According to the SFMF, despite a signed contract, the cancellation came following pressure from known anti-Muslim extremists, along with local government and business leaders.
The group provided a press release, which read, in part:
“The SFMF is deeply concerned about the implications of Marriott’s actions, which reflect a troubling trend of censorship and discrimination against marginalized communities. Failing to uphold contracts for discriminatory reasons and preventing minorities from accessing places of public accommodation in response to bigoted attacks was wrong in the Civil Rights Era of the 1960′s, and it is wrong now. In addition, both Marriott and local leaders must know that fearmongering and demonizing Muslims through the weaponization of terms such as “Hamas sympathizers” and application of anti-Muslim, terrorist-type tropes is never acceptable.”