Wednesday 27 February 2013

Our new intolerance means we must watch our words and our backs, lest we break the liberals' illiberal code

Lynne Featherstone wants hacks banished to Siberia
Tomorrow the High Court will decide whether a Christian group that helps gays "overcome" their sexual inclination has the right to advertise its services. You may remember that Stonewall, the gay rights group, was allowed to run the slogan: “Some people are gay. Get over it.” on London buses. But when Core Issues Trust (CIT), a Christian group, decided to counter with a poster that read “Not gay! Post-gay, ex-gay and proud. Get over it!” Mayor Boris Johnson vetoed their campaign.
If the High Court ruling goes against CIT – as I fear it will – the judgement will prove a setback for free speech, as well as religious freedom. As Philip Johnston writes in today's Telegraph, "Just as gays are entitled to extol their own sexual identity, so people who take another view, on whatever grounds, should be allowed to say so, shouldn’t they?"
The problem, as Johnston notes, is that "you might think it is right to muzzle such people because, in reality, they just don’t like gays and are hiding their disapproval behind a spurious religiosity… In some cases that may be true, but it is not the issue here: this is about free speech."

Read more at the Telegraph.

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