Homosexual fight against free speech

David Limbaugh:

People who don't think the radical homosexual lobby is trying to force its views on society probably aren't paying close attention. Increasingly, in various parts of this nation, if you express traditional views on traditional marriage, you risk being branded a bigot and your speech being muzzled.

For the radical homosexual lobby, it isn't enough that its views are guaranteed full protection, even special protection by the state. They also want to ensure that those disagreeing with them are demonized and denied their First Amendment rights.

The Washington Times' Julia Duin reports on a lawsuit -- Good News Employee Association vs. Hicks -- originating in Oakland, Calif., that is being appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

The controversy arose when two employees of the city of Oakland formed the Good News Employee Association (GNEA) to challenge activities of a previously formed group of homosexual employees. The homosexual group and other radical left-wing groups had availed themselves of the city's e-mail and bulletin board systems.

One e-mail message said, "I personally think the good book needs some updating." According to the Pro-Family Law Center, "Other city-approved e-mails (during the same time period) announced the establishment of an 'altar' for the Day of the Dead, 'National Coming Out Day,' 'the first anti-Iraq war teach-in sponsored by a city government anywhere in the U.S.,' and a 'First Annual Holiday Mixer' for the Gay-Straight Employee Alliance."

When other employees questioned whether these communications were legitimate city business, a city council member fired back an e-mail saying that a "celebration of the gay/lesbian culture and movement" was part of the city's role to "celebrate diversity."

The Times reports that, in response, GNEA posted a flier on the employee bulletin board stating, "Preserve Our Workplace With Integrity: Good News Employee Association is a forum for people of faith to express their views on the contemporary issues of the day." It also said it opposed "all views which seek to redefine the natural family and marriage," which it described as "a union of a man and a woman, according to California state law."

A lesbian employee complained to the city attorney's office that the flier made her feel "targeted" and "excluded," which prompted a supervisor to remove it because it violated the city's anti-discrimination rules.

But it didn't stop there. A city deputy executive director sent a memo to city employees saying the GNEA flier "contained statements of a homophobic nature" and warned employees they could be fired for posting similar materials.

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Can someone explain how the government has a "legitimate administrative interest" in forbidding the expression of biblically based views; how it is "homophobic" for government employees merely to affirm principles supported by the Bible and thousands of years of civilization, yet not heterophobic and Bible-phobic for government employees to directly trash the Bible and traditional values; how a lesbian employee can claim she was targeted and excluded when nothing was said or done to her, while the real victims, the GNEA employees, were genuinely "targeted" and punished?

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Speech codes have a way of preventing speech. There was a time when most homosexuals would have deemed tolerance and acceptance that they were "not a bad person" as a real victory. That is not enough for some. They are attacking "hetero normative" speech as "hate speech." This is going to set back their movement, regardless of the out come in the court for the same reason that gay "marriage" hurt their movement. If groups are going to be fighting to be treated as normal, they are going to have a problem when they attack institutions and speech that everyone else deems normal.