Student sues college, religious right feeding frenzy begins

We will hear about this story repeatedly over the next few days:

A classroom dispute at Los Angeles City College in the emotional aftermath of Proposition 8 has given rise to a lawsuit testing the balance between 1st Amendment rights and school codes on offensive speech.

Student Jonathan Lopez says his professor called him a "fascist bastard" and refused to let him finish his speech against same-sex marriage during a public speaking class last November, weeks after California voters approved the ban on such unions.

When Lopez tried to find out his mark for the speech, the professor, John Matteson, allegedly told him to "ask God what your grade is," the suit says.

Lopez also said the teacher threatened to have him expelled when he complained to higher-ups.

In addition to financial damages, the suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks to strike down a sexual harassment code barring students from uttering "offensive" statements.

Jean-Paul Jassy, a 1st Amendment lawyer in Los Angeles, said a number of cases have explored the tension between offensive speech and the expression of religious views. Often, he said, the decision depends on the specifics of the situation.

"Free speech really thrives when people are going back and forth, disagreeing sometimes and sometimes finding things each other says offensive, but there are limits, particularly in a school setting," Jassy said after reviewing the lawsuit.

Lopez, a Los Angeles resident working toward an associate of arts degree, is described in the suit as a Christian who considers it a religious duty to share his beliefs, particularly with other students. He declined to comment. Matteson could not be reached.

Lopez is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and co-founded by evangelical leader James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

If the story turns out to be true, the professor should be reprimanded. That is if the story turns out to be true.

Unfortunately there seems to be a bigger issue here. The Allied Defense Fund and its allies are now engaging in a p.r. battle regarding this situation.

It's been done so many times before:

- An alleged incident of discrimination against a Christian takes place.

- The Allied Defense Fund sues "on behalf" of the innocent Christian and sends out a press release.

- The press release is "conveniently" picked up by right wing sources like World Net Daily, Free Republic, right wing blogs, etc.

- One News Now publishes a one-sided article making sure to add "details."

- The incident is featured on talk shows and radio shows featuring the "innocent Christian" giving only his or her side of the story.

- The incident will be used to incorrectly claim that pro-gay laws (such as hate crimes legislation) are going to lead to the imprisonment and persecution of Christians.

- We find out that the incident was blown out of proportion, but after all of that build up and hype about "Christians being persecuted," no one really gives a shit.

This incident has already hit One News Now complete with the usual whiny comments about "intolerant purveyors of tolerance," "Christians are being persecuted all over" and other things we can come to expect from One News Now supporters and readers.

I don't remember comments being posted to a One News Now story so quickly. It's obvious that the phony news service will be pushing this situation hard.

And the right wing blogs have gone haywire over it. I cringe to see how many entries on Free Republic have been dedicated to the incident.

My guess is that Mr. Lopez will be featured in a new AFA video on "silencing Christians."

But as I reiterated before, I want to hear the entire story. If Mr. Lopez's version of the story is true, then I hope a suitable solution is reached.

However, given the track record of his allies, I have more than enough reason to doubt Mr. Lopez's version of the story.

For now that is.