Ahhh, free speech, what a tangled web you weave. We certainly love free speech (can you imagine this site without it? We would have been lynched ages ago!), and so does a one Martha Piggee. If you don’t know who she is, you certainly will soon.
A cosmetics teacher from Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, Piggee came under fire for distributing pamphlets declaring homosexuality a sin and urging readers to turn to a Christian God for salvation. While she was never formally reprimanded by the college, Piggee was told to halt distribution. Well, Piggee did not take that well. How not well? She took the college to court.
365 Gay reports:
…Piggee went to court accusing the college, the board of trustees and five college administrators of violating her due process rights and her constitutional rights to free speech. The suit said that the college’s sexual harassment policy was not clear.
Sensibly, the court tossed the case out, but Piggee wasn’t having it and appealed. She and her lawyer insist the college’s objections violate her right to free speech. While a federal appeals court dismissed the case, Piggee’s determined to fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
We’re not lawyers, but it doesn’t seem like her case doesn’t have a chance: she was, after all, on a university campus. Still, it raises some questions about free speech. So, darling readers, what say you? Should Ms. Piggee have the right to distribute homophobic, pro-Christian literature to her students?
Exciting Reading!
Complaintant = Piggee
Respondent = Carl Sandburg College
On January 6, 2003, Respondent decided not to renew Complainant’s contract for the following semester because Respondent was concerned that the hostility would continue to exist between Complainant and the student who accused Complainant of sexual harassment due to Complainant’s indication that she would not comply with Respondent’s instructions in her written warning. Respondent, however, continued to maintain Complainant on its list of eligible part-time faculty.
james
While I am all for free speech, I don’t think it should extend to material that preaches hatred of another group. Living in Canada, I watch in awe as your country continues to fight the battle over sexual orientation when clearly you have other things that you should be focusing on… I say let love be, everything else will fall into place.
dustin
although i absolutely don’t agree w/ her, in order for me to have free speech, everyone has to have free speech.
i’m gonna have to agree with her. she has an absolute right to distribute that hatred.
yeah. it sucks… but i mean- meh.
whatever. i’m rambling…