libananahammock t1_j4qvgum wrote on January 17, 2023 at 5:12 PM

Reply to comment by libananahammock in LAWSUIT: FIRE sues Pennsylvania county after officials ban talking politics in a public park by NeatPeteYeet

Progressive watchdog organization Media Matters included FIRE in a 2017 piece describing how groups funded by right-wing billionaires and dark money organizations influence college campuses. Media Matters says "FIRE has partnered with anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom for some of these cases. It has also frequently weighed in on sexual misconduct cases, arguing that the definition of sexual harassment should not include 'large amounts of constitutionally protected expression, such as any unwanted "sexual comments, gestures, jokes, or looks,"' and defended campus organizations that use hateful rhetoric or seek to exclude potential group members based on sexual orientation. Recently, FIRE took up the cause of defending student groups that did not want to pay extra security costs for hosting serial harasser Milo Yiannopoulos on his campus speaking tour, during which he engaged in targeted public harassment of individual students."

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Working-Photograph12 t1_j4rv7o2 wrote on January 17, 2023 at 8:50 PM

I'm a progressive liberal and I don't think banning speech is a good thing. Even if I don't agree with it. Laws like these can be easily turned back around on gay rights groups, poc groups, etc. I think that is what most people are saying. Fuck FIRE, but I don't want to lose rights just so they also lose them. It us cutting off your nose to spite your face.

BluCurry8 t1_j4tc87j wrote on January 18, 2023 at 2:46 AM

No usually if you are going to solicit or petition the public on any publicly owned space you are required to have a permit. This is not government suppression this is protecting the peace from public nuisances.

Working-Photograph12 t1_j4uovuv wrote on January 18, 2023 at 11:34 AM

No, I did gotv. To register people to vote we were only allowed on public property unless given permission by private property owners.

Added: In areas where most businesses were owned by Republicans. The parks were one of the few places we could set up.

Working-Photograph12 t1_j4upm9i wrote on January 18, 2023 at 11:43 AM

Pro tip: even though courts have repeatedly ruled that voter registration drives are not considered soliciting. Police do not know this and are too "my way, or the highway" about it to argue with. Just find a new spot. Or waste the day maybe even days for it.

BluCurry8 t1_j4uz4jt wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:16 PM

How is collecting signatures and private data for a petition to “protect freedom of speech” voter registration drives?

Working-Photograph12 t1_j4vuak8 wrote on January 18, 2023 at 4:52 PM

Well if they are doing that there are laws against it already. Public spaces usually have "no soliciting posted." The article says they were doing voter registration. But FIRE mixes in polical bias and a host of other issues. The problem is police not enforcing the laws they are already breaking. No need to bann voter drives in parks because one group doesn't know how to properly do it.