I want to focus on when the Constitution is being enforced to advance liberty and when it is being enforced to restrict liberty.
Suppose that a local public high school has put up a “Gay Pride–Stop Homophobia” poster in the hallway to celebrate Gay Pride month. Some conservative Christian students at the school are offended, their parents complain to the school board, and the school board orders the principal to take the Gay Pride poster down immediately, because its message offends the Christian students and their parents and makes them feel like unwelcome outsiders in the public school.
Here is my question for you–is the school board’s decision, ordering the principal to take down the poster, one that is advancing liberty or one that is restricting liberty?
What would the ACLU be arguing in this case?
What about the liberty of the offended students and their parents–isn’t it a good thing for the school board to protect them from having to view the offensive poster? What about their liberty not to have to look at the poster?
Doesn’t the poster amount to an endorsement of Gay Pride and disapproval of the religious beliefs of the Christian students and their families?
What about the courts? Suppose the Christian families sued in federal court seeking to enjoin the school from displaying the Gay Pride poster under the Free Exercise Clause, because the school’s endorsement of the poster harmed the religious sensibilities and dignity of the Christian families?
Should the courts enjoin the school from displaying the gay pride poster in order to protect the free exercise right of the Christian students to not have their religious believes burdened by the school’s endorsement of gay pride?
Would it advance liberty or restrict liberty if the courts were to enjoin the school's display of the gay pride poster? Where does liberty reside in all this?
