A state university in New Jersey has reprimanded a student-employee for describing homosexuality as a "perversion" in a private e-mail that he sent a female professor, after she sent him an unsolicited announcement about a university event that promoted lesbian relationships.
Link.
The article continues to mention that the New Jersey Attorney General has ruled that speech that violates non-discrimination policy isn't protected by the First Amendment.
Absolutists like Justices Black and Douglas notwithstanding, the First Amendment has never offered absolute free speech protection. It doesn't protect speech that endangers people (yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater), speech that is clearly traitorous, or obscenity. In other words, speech is highly protected, but it can be trumped by higher goods. We're now being told that gay rights is one such good. Even a stray private e-mail that presents no clear and present danger to another person isn't protected, if it offends a gay person.
To quote John and Yoko: "Strange days indeed--most peculiar mama."
