A regional officials association has sued two Washington state governing bodies for allegedly infringing on the First Amendment rights of its members after the defendants barred them from using pink whistles during a breast cancer awareness campaign.
Specifically, the Pacific Northwest Football Officials Association (PNFOA) alleged in King County Court that the Washington Officials Association (WOA) changed the rules in the middle of the season, outlawing the use of pink whistles. The decision came three weeks after the PNFOA officials had started using the whistles, and three days before the final “Give Back” weekend when PNFOA officials would donate their pay to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Also named as a defendant was the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which organizes interscholastic athletic competitions for more than 800 middle and high schools in Washington state. The WOA has an exclusive agreement with the WIAA. To officiate at WIAA games, officials must be members of the WOA.
The plaintiff claimed in a press release that the two organizations have “a monopoly on school sports officiating in Washington State. Thus, the PNFOA officials are faced with a difficult decision: they can submit to the irrational and arbitrary decisions of the WOA; they can stop officiating (thereby harming the schools and students that they serve); or they can attempt to change the situation. This suit is the PNFOA’s attempt to change the situation.“
In its complaint, the PNFOA seeks: “(1) to enjoin and prohibit infringements on PNFOA officials’ First Amendment rights of free speech and free association; (2) to prohibit the WOA and WIAA from violating their own rules, Constitution, and Bylaws; and (3) to allow freedom to contract among all officials statewide and to prohibit the unlawful monopoly arrangements between the WOA and the WIAA, thereby giving officials and schools a choice.”
The PNFOA further alleged that after it refused to discipline its members for using the pink whistles or for commenting to the media, the WOA barred its members from working playoff games and placed them on probation.
“Repeatedly, throughout this controversy, the PNFOA has attempted to give the WOA the opportunity to back down gracefully from a legally unsupportable position that has been a public relations disaster for the WOA,” according to the complaint. “The PNFOA has repeatedly offered, for example, to accept some appropriate discipline and then do a joint event and joint donation with WOA in support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure so that WOA could replace some of the critical media coverage with a positive story. These offers were not accepted.”
