British politicians better gear up for battle.

The House of Lords voted last night to amend Justice Secretary Jack Straw's "gay hate law," which offers strict sentencing for homophobic remarks and actions that can be perceived as threatening. Many people, like Tory Home Secretary Lord Waddington, wonder whether such a law would trample freedom of speech.

When it comes to language touching on matters of sexual orientation, there has already been a load of trouble with the police misapplying the existing Public Order Act. It is our plain duty to try to prevent this continuing to happen.

The issue would be moot, of course, if people just got over the gays and minded their own business.

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A New Jersey Marriott apparently doesn't like lesbians. Or, rather, "lesbian". John Aravosis reports that the hotel's banned his previous blog, AMERICAblog, for using the L-word:

I've gotten reports over the years that our blog has been blocked in numerous locations around the country (O'Hare) and world (China) because we are, supposedly, a porn site. This has happened in numerous airports, to me and my readers, and the most recent report is from a Marriott hotel in Park Ridge, New Jersey. In that instance, the hotel computer in the business center reportedly blocked access to AMERICAblog, explaining that the site contained the word "lesbian."

Sure, such search engine filters may seem like simple glitches at best and overt homophobia at worst, but Aravosis rightly points out the larger free speech implications. One can never know who or what's being blocked, which "begs for federal regulation to guarantee free speech."

St. Petersburg police kept their gay pride promise. As we reported last week, police chief Charles Harmon and Mayor Rick Baker teamed up to create so-called "free speech" zones in which gay activists and anti-gay activists could voice their respective, conflicting opinions.

The ACLU swore St. Petersburg authorities were violating both the gays' and anti-gays' freedom of speech. The police didn't seem to care, however, because they arrested five people during this weekend's pride - four of whom were anti-gay priders and "violated" the free speech zones…

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