Apparently, it was a quiet day for Let Them Play.
It was much quieter than expected for a group planning to file a lawsuit against the State of Michigan.
But there was a lot bubbling under the surface for the group that is advocating for the full return of high school sports across the state.
Let Them Play organizer Jayme McElvany said on Friday that his group planned to take action on Monday if the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services continued to ban winter sports for basketball, hockey, wrestling free and competitive crowd for boys and girls.
But the day came and went without a case reaching the courts and no one would explain why.
At 4:45 pm, a press release was issued, announcing that Let Them Play’s attorney, Peter Ruddell, of the Lansing Honigman LLP law firm, would give a press conference at 10 am on Tuesday, February 2. The press conference is scheduled to happen, put it remotely on Zoom.
Ruddell did not return messages from MLive, but McElvany said in text that the process was still part of the plan.
Let Them Play hosted a rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing nearly 2,000 athletes, coaches, administrators and parents in a show of support for high school sports to resume before the closing order on February 21.
But that momentum seemed to hit an obstacle on Monday.
A Michigan Advance story featured posts on McElvany’s personal Facebook page and on a group page called Jayme’s Wake Up Call, suggesting that it propagates conspiracy theories that “are not uncommon among extreme right-wing groups on social media.”
McElvany said he avoids political statements about the Let Them Play movement. She did not request that political signs, banners or messages be displayed during the three Let Them Play rallies that she organized in the State Capitol building.
“The media is trying to discredit me and this movement, but it will not stop us from fighting for these children,” she wrote on Facebook in a post that was later removed.
McElvany wrote on the group’s Facebook page that Facebook had blocked his personal account for “going against Facebook community standards” and that the group’s page was being censored. His account was reopened on Monday after about 24 hours, but the posts and comments on the Let Them Play page have been continuously removed by Facebook.
The community standards section of Facebook says that posts can be removed for, among other things, objective content and integrity and authenticity issues. But Let Them Play members don’t understand why the group’s comments – or McElvany’s posts on the group’s page – fall under those titles.
“It’s sad. We are just trying to give a voice to these poor children,” said Keri TerBush, a mother of Reese who attended the Let Them Play rally on Saturday. “No one is talking badly. We are just asking to see the science and data what they’re doing – and we’re censored.
“We are talking about a lot of high school athletes who just want to play sports. But the country is so divided now that people are looking for negativity everywhere. “
Let Them Play was formed in August 2020, after the high school football season ended. The group has grown to almost 38,000 members on its Facebook page.