Bigot's rights!

A 67 year old woman earned herself a visit from the police this week when she complained about a gay rights march in a letter to the Council. She was not happy that the march had been allowed to go ahead, and that:

"It is shameful that this small but vociferous lobby should be allowed such a display unwarranted by the minimal number of homosexuals."

Her letter was ridiculous, bigoted and mostly wrong, but it certainly wasn't "hate speech". It wasn''t even intended to be published: how could it possibly have been?

Police involvement in cases like this is frankly ridiculous (and slightly scary: any letter you send to the council might be forwarded to the police for censorship?). Free speech means the right to say things that we don't agree with. Bigots have rights too!