Free Speech News

Colorado graphic artist Lorie Smith doesn’t want to be forced to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.  “I’ve always been creative, I’ve always wanted to design for weddings, and I want to design and create for weddings in a way that’s consistent with God’s view of marriage,” Smith says. Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal…

The University of California, Berkeley is known for many things, some good and some very bad, even outrageous. In 1964, a ban on campus political and religious activities launched what was called the free speech and academic freedom movement that quickly spread to other campuses. To many of an older generation, it quickly got out of hand….

In a world of “safe spaces” and politically correct speech, clinical psychologist Chloe Carmichael says she believes that society needs more free speech, not less.  Free speech can help individuals grow and learn as they explore and debate ideas with others, Carmichael says, adding that it even improves anxiety and depression.  “I think that stopping…

When Americans consider Canada, they probably think of maple syrup and funny accents. They should start thinking about alarming amounts of authoritarianism.   What has been jokingly referred to as “America’s hat” has been going through a rough patch recently when it comes to protecting its citizens’ fundamental liberties.   And next on the chopping block…

In a rare unanimous ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court secured a major victory for free speech. In the opinion in Shurtleff v. Boston, authored by retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, the court ruled that the city of Boston violated the Constitution when it prohibited a group from flying a Christian flag on a flagpole it…

We’ve all heard stories about university administrators cracking down on free speech. But free expression is suffering even without these enablers, and that should worry us. In a recent New York Times op-ed, University of Virginia senior Emma Camp powerfully defended freedom of expression as she described her own practice of self-censoring while on campus….

The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on the so-called Global Respect Act (HR 3485), which would impose sanctions on foreigners, including private citizens, who are determined to be responsible for human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex individuals.  While the concept sounds positive (after all, who wants to see anyone’s…

The left claims their most urgent battle is to save democracy, but when it comes to any questioning of the LGBT lobby, they are the ones who sound like authoritarians. The overtones are unmistakable in the “news” coverage promoting “dozens” of employees walking out of Netflix in Los Angeles on Oct. 20 in protest. The…

The Supreme Court issued a win Wednesday for Brandi Levy, a former Mahanoy Area School District student known to court watchers as the “cussing cheerleader.” But the court’s decision made it unclear what other types of student speech a public school can censor. After failing to make her school’s varsity cheerleading squad, Levy posted two…

Canadian author and columnist Lindsay Shepherd’s message to Americans is simple: Defend free speech or risk losing it. In 2017, Shepherd, then a teaching assistant at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, played for her class a series of clips in which psychologist and author Jordan Peterson talked about personal pronouns and transgenderism.  Afterward, Shepherd was called into a meeting with…