Georgia Student Suing for the Right to Verbally Bash Gays

***** READ THIS FIRST *****

DON'T MISINTERPRET MY MENTION OF NEO-NAZIS IN THIS POST. I AM NOT EQUATING CHRISTIANS WHO OBJECT TO HOMOSEXUALITY WITH NAZIS.

IN MY MIND, THE ONLY THINGS THE TWO GROUPS HAVE IN COMMON ARE THE DESIRE TO RECRUIT NEW "MEMBERS" (THE MOTIVATIONS TO RECRUIT ARE VERY DIFFERENT) AND THAT I DISAGREE WITH WHAT THEY SAY.

ALSO KEEP IN MIND THAT MY ULTIMATE CONCLUSION IS TO SUPPORT RUTH MALHOTRA'S RIGHT TO SPEAK HER MIND.

I'm all for tolerance, but I also am a strong, even radical, supporter of free speech, which leaves me somewhat ambivalent about what can be considered a free speech story in the April 10 Los Angeles Times. Here are the first few sentences:

ATLANTA -- Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant. Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation. Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.

I don't see this as a religious freedom issue. Someone might want to speak out against homosexuality (and plenty of other things that some people don't approve of) for other than religious reasons. Speech is the issue for me, and it's an issue that is receiving plenty of recent discussion here in Lansing, Mich.

Some members of the community are up in arms over a neo-Nazi rally scheduled here for April 22. There are plans for counter rallies and other demonstrations. My take is to just let them have their rally. Don't ignore it, but don't get all worked up about it either.

Arguing with people who spout hate speech or intolerant speech merely lends credibility to the speakers. Let them speak, and then evaluate their ideas calmly. You'll find that the ideas are easy to poke holes in, even if some of them are cleverly disguised as logical. Get to know the ideas you oppose. Get to know the underlying values of the people that spread these ideas. You can't refute what you don't know.

I can hear the objections now: "But what about the stupid people who will accept hateful ideas? We shouldn't let stupid people be exposed to hateful ideas." To this I say: GET OVER YOURSELF! I know that I have beliefs that don't square with my own values (I'm working on that.), and so do you. But the more we know, the more our beliefs will come into line with our values. At least that's what I believe. (And I'm pretty sure that squares with my values.)

Besides, espousing hateful or intolerant ideas doesn't require stupidity. Plenty of smart people believe hateful and intolerant things about their neighbors, but hate and intolerance generally can't stand up to scrutiny when we get to know each other. That's why the tolerant among us need to encourage discussion and take a few insults, or even hateful statements, and keep the discussion going.

More later,
Russ