Shawn Holes, 47, a street preacher from New York state, was preaching in Glasgow city centre (why?), charged with breach of peace for some of his comments (seemingly those directed at gays) and fined £1,000. He admitted the charge before returning to the US.
PinkNews: Street preacher fined £1,000 for homophobia
A PinkNews article about Peter Tatchell’s disapproving of the verdict followed. For once, I’ve skimmed through the comments, to be disgusted again by how many in our community argue to the effect that freedom of speech should only mean freedom of politically correct speech. Still, there were some sensible posts – and ones alleging there were sectarian verbal attacks as well, or that the charge wasn’t about the contents of the speech at all. That’s the trouble as I see it. Almost none of the commentors (including Tatchell) was actually there to know what (and in what context) in fact the guy was saying. Yet we’re all so ready to shout “freedom of speech!” or “hate crime!”…
