(Photo provided by American Dream Legal)
- Johnny Fuselier, a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, is seeking to have his First Amendment rights protected by a federal court.
A Mississippi Vietnam veteran filed a class-action lawsuit this week against the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport after officials threatened to evict him for defying the home’s ban on political slogans.
Johnny Fuselier, a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer since 1979, is seeking to have his First Amendment rights protected by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) is an independent agency in the executive branch of the federal government, authorized and governed by title 24, United States Code, Chapter 10. The agency was created by Congressional legislation in 1991 by merging the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home (USSAH) in Washington, D.C., and the United States Naval Home in Gulfport.
The Gulfport facility prohibits the retired military veterans who live there from wearing clothing or displaying signs with “political slogans.” Fuselier, a longtime supporter of President Trump and a 10-year resident of the home, wants the freedom to wear a Trump hat and other political apparel at the federally run facility.
“I don’t understand why we can’t exercise the same rights that every other American can—especially in our own home,” Fuselier said. “We’ve repeatedly asked them to change this policy, but they refuse to do it.”
He wants to wear a hat with the slogan “Trump 2024 Save America Again!” at the retirement home, and he also wants to wear or display other political slogans such as “Let’s Go Brandon.”
American Dream Legal is representing Fuselier in the lawsuit. The new Mississippi-based public interest law firm provides free legal representation to individuals when government obstructs their pursuit of the American Dream.
Aaron Rice, CEO of American Dream Legal said in a statement that it is troubling that any Americans’ constitutional rights could be violated so flagrantly.
“Denying those rights to the very men and women who took up arms to protect them is indefensible,” Rice said. “This ban doesn’t just violate the Constitution. It makes a mockery of it.”
The class-action lawsuit, which seeks represent 494 paying veterans and their spouses residing at the AFRH in Gulfport, states that officials at the retirement home have personally threatened Fuselier, a 20-year veteran, with eviction for trying to wear a Trump hat and displaying a MAGA-style political sign.
In June 2023, Fuselier said in the lawsuit that the facility’s Resident Officer confronted him and ordered him to remove the signs from his orthopedic walker. If he did not remove the signs, the Resident Officer said an administrative hearing would be scheduled and Fuselier could be evicted.
Fearing punishment, Fuselier has not displayed political signs while in the common areas of the campus since late-June of 2023. He has also refrained from wearing political apparel.
The facility even circulated flyers stating that there was a “no politics zone,” reminding residents of their policy of against wearing clothing with racial, sexual, political, or ethnic slogans as that was considered inappropriate dress at the home.
Fuselier is asking the federal court to declare that the political slogan ban violates the First Amendment and issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against the political slogan ban.
You can read the filing from American Dream Legal on behalf of Fuselier below.
Frank Corder
