Alisa Harris reports in World Magazine:
FOX News analyst Mercedes Colwin said if Prejean feels she received “psychic injury” due to discrimination, she could sue for monetary compensation. Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said she could certainly sue, but added that she doesn’t seem to have a strong case.
Under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, “business establishments” are not allowed to discriminate based on “sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, or medical condition.” McCaleb said California has fought litigation over this definition of “business establishment,” but he believes that a court would find that the pageant is not an actual business establishment but an organization with the right to free speech: “We’re not dealing with the government here. We’re dealing with a private organization who’s allowed to have its values, right or wrong.”
