Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Hemali Tanna [Click to enlarge]

Earlier this month, a student of the L.A. City College sued his school based on the harsh treatment and failing grade he received from his professor for an anti-gay presentation. Jonathan Lopez was cut off early during a Christian rendition of the sin of homosexuality and his stance against gay rights.

The professor provoked a lawsuit by calling Lopez a "fascist bastard" and asking him "what God thinks his grade is" before judging the presentation to be worthy of a zero. Two students had been "deeply offended" by Lopez's address, feeling that the speech violated the school's sexual harassment code. Lopez's lawsuit seeks to strike down the school's ambiguous code barring students from uttering "offensive" statements and regain financial damages.

A professor cannot fail a student for expressing opinions he disagrees with.

College is meant to be a life-changing event that rounds out a person's beliefs through an exposure to wide variety of opposing intellectual ideas. The greatest sin professor John Matteson made was censoring another's opinion due to content. The motives of the speech conceal its bigotry. Lopez's wish to maintain unjust laws is based purely on religious standards, denying two consenting adults the same rights as another.

As there is no reasonable secular argument against gay rights, Lopez's position is one of dogmatic bigotry. Lopez has joined a religious majority continuing to force their interpretation of Christianity on a nation that touts separation between church and state. Restrictions on gay marriage are the last holdout of the dying Christian influence on laws, similar to restrictions placed against interracial marriages under the guise of God. Soon, opinions against homosexuality will be considered as wrong as segregation.

Refusing Lopez's right to speech was wrong. Similarly his grade should reflect the parameters of the assignment, not his proximity to the professor's own opinion. More regrettable is the professor's decision to resort to vulgar name calling, wasting an opportunity to present a rational counter-argument against intolerance.

L.A. City College needs to quietly resolve this issue of free speech or else the courts need to force them to uphold the right of free speech. A college environment should never be too sensitive to hear another opinion, even if it is based in bigotry and hate.

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