[TriLUG] Palmer for another SC term; proposed amendment to the bylaws

[Brandon Van Every]

On Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 10:48 AM, Peter Neilson <neilson at windstream.net>wrote:

>
> "It's free speech. Anyone should be able to say anything. The consequences
> belong to the individual. If men are worried about 'gender imbalance' in an
> area of endeavor, let them go and take up English-style horseback riding,
> which seems currently dominated by females. And yes, riders make jokes
> about the imbalance."
>
>
There is no right to free speech in a private business or function.  The
First Amendment in the USA merely prohibits the government from preventing
speech where it has authority.  Even then, speech has some limits.
 Agreement to various Terms Of Service in online forums is common, and they
are *not* free speech rules.  People may have various intellectual, moral,
or ethical ideas about what people should feel free to debate in some
setting.  But acting obnoxiously about other people's genders is not,
AFAIC, permissible professional behavior.  Just because the Nazis have the
right to march in Skokie, IL, does not mean you have the right to unfurl a
swastika at a TriLUG meeting.

I have defended free speech professionally in WA state as a signature
gatherer.  I've even gone to jail for it, on a false arrest that I could
have sued the town of Issaquah for.  I take it pretty seriously, so take
that extra bit of weight into account when I say your wife is flat out
wrong about this being a free speech issue.  Anyone should *not* be able to
say anything they want, anytime they want, in any venue they want.  That
isn't and has never been the law regarding free speech.  If she thinks it's
ok for women to be obnoxious and unwelcoming to men in equestrian circles,
that's her problem, not ours.


Cheers,
Brandon