The founder of Coalition for Liberty, the organization funding a lawsuit brought by a Georgia realtor who was fired after making a public speech about sexually explicit materials in public libraries, told The Georgia Star News that cancel culture will be defeated when activists learn “everyday Americans” have the support of groups like his.
Coalition for Liberty is funding the lawsuit filed by Julie Mauck against LGBT activists and an activist organization, which she states made false claims about her July 2023 speech in opposition to the reading materials.
Founder Doug Turpin told The Star News that he started Coalition for Liberty after his children faced retaliation due to his advocacy against such reading materials, which Turpin said taught him those who engage in cancel culture feel emboldened “because they’re unopposed.”
“There’s no consequence,” Turpin (pictured above) explained. “When people can pop off against you and the average person doesn’t have the resources to defend themselves.”
He eventually determined that a “credible third party group that will defend everyday Americans, like Coalition for Liberty,” could permanently “stop cancel culture.”
Turpin pointed to Coalition for Liberty’s assistance to Mauck, explaining that public attacks levied against her decreased after the lawsuit was filed, and instead became anonymous in nature.
He said, “they do it anonymously” because “now they are afraid of actually speaking up like they would before.” Turpin added, “They are deterred from this behavior, and they act like angry children with anonymous attacks.”
The Coalition for Liberty founder told The Star News, “The woke people, once they realize they will actually suffer personal consequences, they will stop.”
He added, “We can literally end cancel culture as a force”
Mauck separately told The StarNews she credited Coalition for Liberty with her earlier win during an appeal with the Georgia Association of Realtors, where proceedings to remove her license were initiated based on the false claims about her public library speech.
“I wouldn’t have won that without Coalition for Liberty,” said Mauck. She also credited her attorney, Jonathan Vogel, who told The Star News he was recruited by Coalition for Liberty.
Without the group, she explained, “I would have just had to sit back and accept the consequences, whatever they may be.”
Choking back tears, she told The Star News she was relieved to learn the group would help, calling it “a huge sigh of relief, because it really a scary and lonely place to be.”
Attorney Peter Barwick, who works for Coalition for Liberty, told The Star News that Coalition for Liberty will provide a “realization” to inform activists groups they “can’t just do whatever they want.” He added, “There is going to be a cost.”
“We want to embolden and give courage to others like Julie,” he said.
Barwick added, “Public sentiment, I would expect, is very much on our side on these issues,” before concluding, “All that’s needed is for someone to speak up, then it becomes contagious.”
In addition, two Mauck, two cases supported by Coalition for Liberty have received significant media attention, including a former social worker who was subjected to antisemitic attacks and the case of protesters who claim a restaurant that hosts “all ages” events, including “drag queens” used digitally altered images to mock them publicly.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
