From: kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie)
Newsgroups: alt.censorship
Subject: [soc.motss, et al.]  Re: advice sought: handling on-street harassment
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:44:40 GMT
Followup-To: alt.censorship,soc.motss,ne.motss
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL

[A repost - Carl]

From: gordon@lugh.think.com (gordon linoff)
Newsgroups: soc.motss,ne.motss
Subject:  Re: advice sought: handling on-street harassment
Date: 1 Sep 92 13:51:33

In article <la592nINNqfb@news.bbn.com> rrizzo@star-trek.bbn.com (Ron Rizzo) writes:

	. . .

   Recently while passing through the main square of a well-known college
   town known for its tolerance of street orators and performers of all
   kinds, a couple of gay men were verbally gaybashed by religious
   fundamentalists.  As the men walked by, one of the fundies shouted at
   them, and, I guess, for the benefit of onlookers, "THE SEXUALLY IMMORAL
   CANNOT ENTER HEAVEN!*"

This is called free speech.  These fundamentalists are not
threatening violence, inciting riots, or physically
assaulting anyone.  I suppose if they are screaming during
the late night or early morning, then the police can charge
them with disturbing the peace.

Panhandlers are allowed in said square for the same reason.
The police used to cart them out, but that's
unconstitutional.

	. . .

   What, if anything, of a legal, political, tactical or organizational
   nature can be done about such occurences?  Can they be arrested for
   assault, sued, reported to the police or city hall?  Is there any
   recourse through Cambridge's Human Rights Ordinance, or the
   Massachusetts law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual
   orientation?

This has nothing to do with discrimination.  This is an
issue of unpopular speech, which is protected by the
constitution.


   How would one go about a public campaign against them, without it
   getting side- trailed into endless and irrelevant generic squabbles
   about freedom of expres- sion or religion (the aim being a practical
   one, to successfully pressure zealots into curbing their aggressive and
   verbally abusive behavior in public)?  It may be more worthwhile and
   relevant to hear of case studies of tactics that worked than to debate
   the course of hypothetical court actions.

If you want to stage a public campaign against them, get a
group of people to scream pro-gay things in the same area.
Personally, I think the shouting on the part of the
fundamentalists gives additional proof to onlookers that
lesbians and gay men exist and are threatened.


   Does the ACLU or NGTF publish any generic information on how to handle
   such situa- tions?

The ACLU would take the side of the fundamentalists, and
rightly so in my opinion.  The Constitution guarantees
freedom to express opinions, no matter how distasteful they
might be.


   Has anyone else heard about harassment of minorities by fundamentalists
   in Cambridge or Boston?

   The main aim is to nip such 90's nastiness in the bud.  If a place like
   the Square blithely comes to tolerate public harassment, it's really bad
   news.

Precisely why the fundamentalists should be allowed there,
if they are so inclined.

--gordon



   Regards,
   Ron

--
Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign