Free speech concerns as UN pushes ‘sexual orientation’ as equal to ‘race,’ ‘religion’
Image via Wikipedia NEW YORK, January 13, 2012 ( C-FAM ) Tension between free speech advocacy and efforts to curb “hate speech” has arisen over the past year as the result of recent initiatives at the United Nations (UN) and by the Obama administration. Freedom of opinion and expression have long been recognized as fundamental, and a recent UN Human Rights Committee “ General Comment ” affirmed these twin liberties as “the foundation stone for every free and democratic society.” Yet while heralding these bedrock rights, others are seeking to curtail criticism of homosexual behavior and shelter certain religions from “defamation.” Such efforts also butt against religious liberty and conscience rights, two other bright constellations in the firmament of fundamental rights. The tension became evident in a 2010 initiative by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which sought to reconcile broad free speech protections found in Article 19 of the International C