Speaking of speech

In the hate crimes bill comments, Jack has posted a link to a Townhall page about a freedom of speech case, Good News Employee Association vs. Hicks.

This appears to be an unlawful suppression of unpopular speech. As I said in my reply, no one has the right to shut down speech just because they don’t like it. Offensive speech, such as insisting that GLBT people don’t have real families, or as one cluelessly hateful commenter said, that “[gay people] are weeds in the garden of life,” is one thing, while policy or behavior that does tangible harm to people is another. As far as I can see, the anti-gay employee group that filed the lawsuit has only indulged in the former, for which they should be chastised and ridiculed, not banned and silenced. Likewise for the offensive speech by commenters on the Townhall site.

Despicable speech is not limited to anti-gay knuckle-draggers, though. Rick Sincere and Matt Comer both have excellent posts up about the horrible comments directed at an 18 year old activist from the far-righty hate group Young Americans for Freedom (Eugene Delgaudio was once its executive director, back in the day) who recently came out/was outed as gay. These cruel, vicious outbursts are not coming from the anti-gay right, but from some within the GLBT community.

I’m happy to join Rick and Matt in saying that this speech, protected though it may be, is vile. No, the young man doesn’t get a pass for his hypocrisy and contribution to anti-equality causes, but 1) people make stupid mistakes, especially when they’re 18 and trying to figure out who they are , and 2) talking about anyone like this, below the update is inexcusable. Cut it out.

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2 Responses to Speaking of speech

  1. Ellen says:

    Well, I’m trans; and I’ve found the left FAR more hateful than the right. But then, I don’t stay on the plantation. I tend to vote Republican in national elections (because there are people out there who really DO want to kill me for being queer). I vote Democrat in state elections, because they are more queer-friendly (sometimes). And I pretty much vote independently in local elections because locally, at least, I have a chance of finding out more about the candidates.

    I got so much venom and bile for not voting monolithically far-left that I shook the dust of the GLBT community from my shoes, and haven’t been near anything officially GLBT in over a year. Except for the local GLBT library, because they don’t demand I take up THEIR stand on things.

    Remember: any religion, secular or shaped about a god, is ten times as vicious to the heretic as they are to the infidel. And this whole left/right thing has turned into a religion for the Left.

  2. David says:

    Hi Ellen, thanks for your comment. I think the fact that our community doesn’t vote, or do anything else, monolithically is one of those truths that the opponents of equality would much rather not acknowledge. It’s a shame that there are some among us who would so eagerly play into that fallacy, to the point of being coercive.