Catholic Citizens’ president Larry Cirignano got no judicial love this weekend.
Judge David Ricciardone tossed Cirignano’s plea to toss a civil rights violation and misdemeanor assault and battery charges filed by Sarah Loy, a gay marriage activist Cirignano allegedly shoved during a December VoteOnMarriage event.
Cirignano had helped organize the event and came to the aid of his anti-gay allies after Loy entered the arena with a sign supporting gay nuptials. Enraged by Loy’s appearance, witnesses say Cirignano jumped to the ground and tackled Loy, saying, “You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now.”
Defending his position, Cirignano and his lawyers cited a 1995 Supreme Court case ruling that St. Patrick’s Day organizers had a constitutional right to ban the gays. Judge Ricciardone, however, wasn’t having it. He wrote in his decision:
In holding her sign at the rally here, the complainant was simply expressing a view contrary to that being generally supported. This is speech which is clearly and unassailably protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and by the Massachusetts Bill of Rights. To conclude otherwise would allow the group that arrives at the city licensing office first to censor the free expression of speech in a particular area of the city at any given time. This is an unsupportable proposition under constitutional law.
Don’t you just love when the constitution bites back?
How about we take this to the next level?
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Cirignano and his lawyers will be back in court for a August 20th hearing, when a trial date will be set. We’re all set for that shit.
floridaken77
So — let me get this straight .. sorry correct:
Its okay for “christians” to protest at gay pride events with their big giant signs which are usually hatefull and crass; but the minute the tables are turned, its … oh well we have a right to censor the opposing opinion — see the supreme court said so…
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT kids……
George Bubble
Homophobes used to have the entire world. Now they have these parades. (Well, not really, but that’s how it feels to them.) They have to express all their hate – sorry, express “themselves” – in one act on one day of the year. It’s not long before the gay mafia will come take that away too. They know it and they’re bitter. They don’t understand why the gays are so greedy. They’ve taken so much – why can’t they let them have their sacred day of hate?
They fail to comprehend that the sanctity of their little parades exists only in their minds, and that gays haven’t stolen anything from them that wasn’t stolen to begin with. They can’t accept that they’re the ones who have been stomping on the Constitution this whole time.
Guys like Cirignano will never understand what they’re doing wrong. It’s becoming a hobby among serious Catholics to pity themselves for the loss of all the things they stole to begin with. The money, the power, the respect, the credibility, etc. This self-pity turns into anger at the slightest sign of contradiction or “disrespect”. Just watch Bill Donohue’s explosive tirades against impiety in animated cartoons. Of all the adjectives, “Christlike” is pretty far down the list.