U.S. Western Falun Dafa Ass'n v. Chinese Chamber of Commerce

— For more than 50 years the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) has sponsored a series of events to commemorate the Chinese New Year. A “Chinese New Year Parade” (Parade), a “Community Street Fair” (Street Fair), and a “Flower Market Fair” (Flower Fair), are among the activities conducted by the Chamber to educate the public on the subjects of Chinese culture and history. Each is open to the public to attend. U.S. Western Falun Dafa Association (Falun Gong) has applied multiple times to participate in one or more of these events, usually without success. Falun Gong sued the Chamber alleging it violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51 et seq.) (Act) by denying Falun Gong’s applications to participate. Falun Gong appeals from the trial court’s order granting the Chamber’s motion to strike the Act claim pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (A115535). Falun Gong contends that the trial court erred because Falun Gong’s allegations were not based on conduct in furtherance of the Chamber’s right to free speech, and because Falun Gong has established a probability of prevailing on its claim. We disagree. Each of the Chamber’s events…