The ACLU of Michigan has filed a civil rights complaint against congressional candidate Peter Meijer for allegedly discriminating against drag performers with Down Syndrome.

Meijer would not allow the UK-based troupe Drag Syndrome to use his Tanglefoot Building in Grand Rapids during the ArtPrize Project 1 exhibitions, questioning whether the performers could provide consent, the ACLU said in a complaint filed Thursday with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. The group was scheduled to perform there Saturday and has since found another space.

The ACLU contends that Meijer is relying on harmful stereotypes about disabled people.

Meijer told the Free Press that he was worried about "the risk of perception of exploitation," a view he said is shared by disability advocates. He plans to challenge the complaint.

"I did what's right, and I’m not going to back down from that or apologize for it," he said.

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Meijer is running for the Republican nomination to the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township. He is the great-grandson of Meijer founder Hendrik Meijer.

Meijer said he agreed to allow the nonprofit SiTE:LAB to build a performance space in the Tanglefoot to be used by several acts during ArtPrize, which runs from Friday through Oct. 27. DisArt, a Grand Rapids-based arts and culture organization, arranged some of the programming and booked Drag Syndrome.

Meijer said he had immediate reservations when he learned in mid-August about the Drag Syndrome performance. He said he spent the next few days consulting with disability advocates, LGBTQ organizations and other groups.

"What was especially moving to me was the local disability advocates ... viewed Drag Syndrome as counter-productive to their goals of fostering a greater sense of inclusion and belonging" among people with developmental disabilities, he said.

Meijer said he reached out to the organizers of ArtPrize with his concerns. Then on Aug. 21, he sent an email that said Drag Syndrome could not use the Tanglefoot. The email was leaked to the media, Meijer said, politicizing the issue and sparking some social media users to hurl nasty slurs at him.

"It’s been a very extreme reaction, but it goes to show the toxic political environment we’re in today," he said.

According to the complaint, Meijer's letter to the Art Prize organizers read, “The differently abled are among the most special souls in our community, and I believe they, like children and other vulnerable populations, should be protected.”

He also said the performers’ “ability to act of their own volition is unclear,” and that he did not know whether the performers “are giving, or in a position to give, full and informed consent.”

Meijer's decision was based on "harmful myths and stereotypes about the capacities of people with Down Syndrome," the ACLU said in its complaint. The ACLU also said Meijer indicated his discomfort with drag performance.

Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU's LGBT Project, said DisArt gave Meijer information about individual performers that made it clear they understand what they're doing, but Meijer didn't budge.

"He makes an assumption about people with disabilities, in this case Down Syndrome, that they lack the agency and capacity to understand what it means to perform drag and give informed consent to perform drag," Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU's LGBT Project, said.

Meijer told the Free Press he questions whether the ACLU's viewpoint is that "anyone at any point should be forced to host anything, whether or not it's exploiting a vulnerable community."

"I’m very curious to know what this means for private property owners," he said.

The ACLU's complaint asks the Michigan Department of Civil Rights to find that Meijer discriminated against DisArt based on the disability of the performers and the nature of their performance. It also asks that he pay for the costs associated with Drag Syndrome having to provide an alternative performance venue.

Drag Syndrome is scheduled to perform a sold-out show at 7 p.m. Saturday at Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids. A second performance was added at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story should have noted that Hendrik Meijer, Peter Meijer's great-grandfather, founded Meijer. This version is correct.

Contact staff writer Ann Zaniewski at 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski.