Colorado Springs Resort Cancels Anti-immigration Group's Event

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — A national anti-immigration group will have to find another place to hold its April conference after the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs —facing criticism in the wake of violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia — abruptly canceled the event.

The resort Wednesday did not provide a reason for the cancellation of the VDARE Foundation conference, other than to say it remained committed to respecting the privacy of its guests.

The VDARE Foundation, a tax exempt charity based in Connecticut, posted a notice about the cancellation on its website. Another post told supporters that PayPal booted it off its payment service without warning for avoiding its use terms. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The organizer of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Jason Kessler, is a contributing writer to VDARE's website. But group founder Peter Brimelow says the group had nothing to do with the rally.

Brimelow said he planned to issue a statement later. On the website he told supporters that he suspected it was kicked off PayPal over Charlottesville, which he said "is being used as an excuse for the authoritarian Communist Left to punish anyone who disagrees with their anti-American violence against patriotic people."

He has previously denied that his group and website, named after Virginia Dare, the first English child born in North America in 1587, is white nationalist. But Brimelow has acknowledged it publishes works by writers who fit that description "in the sense that they aim to defend the interests of American whites."

The group planned to hold a conference at a lodge in Yosemite National Park earlier this year. But its private operator canceled, saying hosting the event would violated its values.

Opponents of the Colorado gathering launched an online petition to pressure the resort to back out. On Tuesday, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, a Republican and former state attorney general, said the city would not provide any support or resources for the gathering and said it was committed to enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

"I know I am joined by many Colorado Springs residents when I say I appreciate Cheyenne Mountain Resort's action to cancel this conference, and its conscientious decision not to bring this group to Colorado Springs," he said Wednesday.

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