In California, one student made the mistake of assuming free speech was permitted in Speech class. Last November, during a 2008 course at Los Angeles City College, Jonathan Lopez decided to use his 6-8 minute assignment on “any topic” to talk about Christian faith and traditional marriage. Halfway through the assignment, his professor interrupted him, reportedly calling him a “fascist bastard” in front of the entire class. He refused to allow Lopez to finish. Instead of a percentage, Professor John Matteson wrote this on his paper, “Ask God what your grade is.” Lopez contacted the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing him in a suit against school officials.
Matteson had no right to practice viewpoint discrimination in a state college, particularly since California had just passed Proposition 8 at the time of Lopez’s speech, making traditional marriage the law of the land. If academic censorship like Matteson’s goes unpunished, it will have a chilling affect on religious freedom across American campuses.
Tony Perkins heads the Family Research Council. This article is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.
