The animal rights group PETA claimed a free speech victory Thursday, saying it reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the Rock Springs airport, which had refused to let it advertise a message criticizing leather luggage.
In the heart of Wyoming’s cattle and rodeo country, where cowboys ride leather saddles, cowgirls wear leather boots and most everybody else has leather gloves, airport officials blocked People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from buying advertising urging fliers not to travel with leather luggage. The airport will pay PETA $35,000 in legal fees and allow it to advertise as it does others, the animal rights group said.
“PETA is celebrating this victory for the First Amendment and for cows who don’t want to be tormented and killed for their skins,” Asher Smith, PETA Foundation’s director of litigation, said in a statement.
The rejected ad depicts a leather handbag with a cow’s head and legs — it looks to be a red-and-white Holstein dairy cow seldom seen in the area. Next to the image is the question, “Was she killed to make your carry-on?”
In its suit, PETA claimed that the airport, which advertised rodeo events on various platforms, invented a reason to reject PETA’s carry-on criticism. “[R]ather than allowing the ad to run, the airport, as alleged, quickly scrambled to create a set of policy guidelines to justify rejecting it,” PETA said in a statement announcing the settlement.
An airport official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The organization originally fought the lawsuit. Court filings state that the parties have reached a settlement, but the case, filed in June 2024, appears to need judicial approval before it is completely resolved.
The airport’s actions were unconstitutional, the suit asserted. Further, travelers can easily find vegan leather for their carry-ons, the group said.
Cows have friends, hold grudges and mourn, PETA said. Cowboys and cowgirls who no longer want to saddle their consciousnesses with the burden of the leather industry can avail themselves of the organization’s empathy kits, the group said.
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