Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 23:02:38 -0500 From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG NY Post Free Speech/Leviticus letter March 18, 2000 New York Post 1211 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Dear Editors: While we sympathize with the free speech concerns expressed by Rod Dreher on March 12, we do not believe that he is looking at the problem accurately. First, Dreher does not seem to think that the right to protest is included in the right to free speech. Those who complained about the billboard in Staten Island, including many people of faith who conducted a prayer vigil in front of the billboard (as reported in the March 13 Staten Island Advance), were exercising their right to free speech as well. Second, the billboard renter certainly has a right to anonymous speech, but when that speech is plastered on someone else’s billboard, the billboard owner is left as the only speaker of record and the one who must bear the cost of the complaints in terms of time and reputation. Exercising free speech also means having the right to disown speech that is not your own, and to take steps to avoid any confusion in that regard. Third, threats are not excusable, but it is easy to understand how people could have construed the billboard message (a single Bible passage taken out of context), as a very real threat, given that Leviticus also proscribes death as a penalty for the activities mentioned on the billboard. Though there is certainly disagreement about the meaning of that biblical passage, there is no question that Dreher and the billboard renter agree on the meaning, and should not be surprised that people would be offended and angry, no matter how many people agree with the sentiment. Fourth, the comparison of the billboard renter with civil rights activist clergy in the South is very peculiar, since those clergy were working against an oppressive legal structure, not for it, and many who worked for the civil rights movement are now working for equality of sexual minorities. Sincerely, Barbara Lamond Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators The above letter was sent on IWG letterhead listing 19 congregations and religious organizations and 64 clergy from 16 religious traditions. Visit our web site to find out how you can help: http://www.iwgonline.org/wecandoit/ -- Interfaith Working Group PO Box 11706 Philadelphia, PA 19101 http://www.iwgonline.org/ iwg@iwgonline.org voice: 215-235-3050 fax: 215-232-0829