9th Circuit Rules Okay to Censor Terms "Marriage" and "Family Values" as Hate Speech

(Hat tip: Jean at Catholic Fire)

From LifeSiteNews:

TEMECULA, California, March 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Earlier this week, San Francisco's United States notorious Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the matter of Good News Employees Association v. Hicks that municipal employers can completely censor the terms "natural family," "marriage" and "family values" as hate speech.

The court concluded that municipalities have a right to literally dictate what form an employee's speech may take, even if it is in regard to controversial public issues. Shockingly, the court concluded that the interest of Christian employees in speaking out on the issue of marriage is "vanishingly small" and that the "administrative" interests of a city are more important than speech rights.

The court completely failed to address the concerns of the appellants with respect to the fact that the City of Oakland's Gay-Straight Employees Alliance was openly allowed to attack the Bible in widespread city e-mails, to deride Christian values as antiquated, and to refer to Bible-believing Christians as hateful. When the plaintiffs attempted to refute this blatant attack on people of faith, they were threatened with immediate termination by the City of Oakland. The Ninth Circuit did not feel that the threat of immediate termination had any effect on free speech.

The Pro-Family Law Center has vowed to immediately take this ruling up to the United States Supreme Court on a petition for review.

[More]

My Comments:
Looks like the loony Ninth - the circuit in the federal courts system most likely to be reversed by the Supreme Court - is at it again.