Court Rules "Homophobic Speech" Not Covered Under The First Amendment

particularity dangerous section from the court decision

DETROIT – A state attorney fired for an anti-gay campaign against a college student can’t collect unemployment benefits, the Michigan appeals court says, rejecting claims that his off-hours activities were protected by the First Amendment.

The attorney general’s office was justified in firing Andrew Shirvell in 2010 because his posts on Facebook and an anti-gay blog, as well as his campus visits and TV appearances, clearly had an adverse impact on the agency’s credibility, the court said in a 3-0 decision released Friday.

The court overturned a ruling by an Ingham County judge, who said Shirvell was entitled to jobless benefits because he was fired for exercising free speech.

“The department, as the chief law enforcement agency in the state, represents all of the citizens of Michigan irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or creed. … Shirvell’s conduct reasonably could have created the impression that neither he nor the department enforced the law in a fair, even-handed manner without bias,” the court said.

There’s no dispute that Shirvell targeted Chris Armstrong, an openly gay student government president at the University of Michigan. Shirvell appeared on local and national TV shows to defend his blog and criticize what he called Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda.”

In response, Attorney General Mike Cox’s office received more than 20,000 complaints.

“Shirvell’s conduct undermined one of the department’s specific missions — i.e. the integrity of its anti-cyberbullying campaign,” said judges Stephen Borrello, Christopher Murray and Peter O’Connell. “By employing an individual such as Shirvell, whose conduct Cox agreed amounted to bullying, the department undermined its own message.”

Reached for comment, Shirvell of Palm Coast, Florida, said he’ll appeal the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.

“Every public employee, whether liberal or conservative, will now be in fear of what they’re doing on their off hours,” he said.

Armstrong’s attorney, Deborah Gordon, said the decision was “excellent.”

In a separate matter, a federal jury in 2012 ordered Shirvell to pay $4.5 million to Armstrong for defamation and emotional distress. An appeal is pending.

“You cannot expect to behave in such an outrageous, illegal, harmful, menacing manner and think that your employer is going to keep you on board as a government employee and it’s not going to affect how you’re perceived by the public,” Gordon said.

(AP)

Types Of Fear Mongering That led To The Veto Of The Arizona Freedom Of Religion Over Homosexuality Bill

This is an example of the type of false attacks on a bill that's only allows people to not to be forced to violate their religion

I think they got this backwards it's going to be gays doing this to religious people

Just For The Record The Bill Never Mentions Anything To Do With Homosexuality Only The Free Practice Of Religon

With Attacks Like This The Fake Conservative Jan Brewer Vetoed The Bill

"Abortion Hurts Women" Now Hate Speech

Ah, the holiday season along Market Street. Snowflakes hanging from lamp posts. Store windows filled with red and green. Banners reading, “Abortion hurts women.”

Yes, for the second time in two years, the city’s main thoroughfare has become a hotbed of "anger" and finger-pointing over abortion-related banners.

In January 2012, a local pro-choice group called the Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women sponsored banners with slogans including “U.S. Out of My Uterus.” An antiabortion group called Life Legal Defense Foundation demanded the city take them down, saying they shouldn’t have been issued permits because they weren’t advertising a particular event. The Department of Public Works said they were legit read the link if you want the whole story and left them up, though vandals removed some.

Now, it appears the shoe is on the other foot. Or the banner on the other lamp post? A group called Walk for Life West Coast, which is organizing its 10th annual antiabortion march in San Francisco on January 25, has placed 50 banners along Market Street reading “Abortion hurts women.” They will be flying for about a month.

The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women wrote a letter to Mayor Ed Lee this week saying the banners contain “a false and hateful statement” and demanded they be removed.

Ellen Shaffer, director of the Silver Ribbon Campaign, said she considers the banners hate speech against women and that such baseless slogans contributed to an increased denial of reproductive health care for women and girls. She said Market Street now is lined with “Snowflakes — snowflakes and lies. It’s really a shock.”

A call to Walk for Life West Coast was not returned.
Rachel Gordon, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works, which issued the permits for the banners, said the department ensures proposed signs don’t include profanity or nudity, but the content of the message is not otherwise considered.

Francis Tsang, a spokesman for Lee, said the mayor’s office won’t be getting involved in the banner brouhaha.

“Mayor Lee is a staunch, longtime defender of a woman’s right to choose and disagrees strongly with the message of the banners, but the mayor’s disapproval obviously doesn’t and shouldn’t trump the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Tsang said.

(sfgate)