If you can use you’re religious freedom to not cater gay...

If you can use you’re religious freedom to not cater gay weddings, Joan Cheever can use it to feed the homeless, dammit.

Here’s a picture of Joan Cheever, who was given a ticket for feeding homeless people on April 14th. The ticket carries a potential fine of $2,000.

Joan is a trained chef who, for the last decade, has used her food truck to feed homeless people 3-course meals. On Tuesday, April 14th, Joan was ticketed by San Antonio police. She has a food permit for her mobile truck, but she was cited for transporting and serving some food from a vehicle other than that truck. There are good reasons for having food permit laws for mobile vehicles (sanitary considerations and public health), but those laws are usually reserved for people trying to sell food, not provide alms to the poor.

Are we actually supposed to believe that San Antonio is worried about the health of its homeless population when it has banned panhandling, sleeping in public, and camping without a license (including sleeping in vehicles)? San Antonio is also considering making it illegal to even give money to panhandlers as well, targeting not just homeless people, but also those who wish to help them.

Joan is fighting back, though. She has cited Texas’s Religious Freedom law, and is contesting the ticket. “One of the police officers said, ‘Ma’am, if you want to pray, go to church,’” she told WOAI-TV. “And I said, 'This is how I pray–when I cook this food and deliver it to the people who are less fortunate.”

The Indiana pizzeria who cited religious freedom for its decision to not cater gay weddings got nearly a million dollars worth of crowd-funded support. There is also crowd-funding for Joan, to help her with her charitable work and potential legal costs.

Spread the word. A statement just as loud should be made for this woman.