Weeks after Proposition 8 passed, student says in lawsuit, his professor called him a "fascist bastard" for his stance against same-sex unions

UPDATE:

03/03/09 LA Times: "The suit, filed Feb. 12, has inspired a wave of blog and media commentary. Lopez's lawyer from the Alliance Defense Fund, co-founded by James Dobson of Focus on the Family, has appeared on the popular Fox News show 'The O'Reilly Factor.'"

02/16/09 LA Times: "[Los Anges City Community College] student Jonathan Lopez says his professor called him a 'fascist bastard' and refused to let him finish his speech against same-sex marriage during a public speaking class last November, weeks after California voters approved the ban on such unions." For the complaint filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, see my 02/12/09 post.

02/17/09 ADF Alert: "Attorney David Hacker of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom appeared on the Adam McManus show to discuss the case ADF filed against L.A. Community College District after professor calls student ‘fascist bastard’ for sharing beliefs on faith and marriage. The mp3 file runs just under 7 minutes."

02/18/09 ADF Alert: "ADF attorney David Hacker of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom appeared on the Frank Pastore Show to discuss the Lopez case ... The mp3 file ... runs just under 12 minutes."

02/19/09 Volokh Conspiracy: UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh believes that it is "pretty clear that refusal to give a grade because the teacher disapproves of the religiosity of the student's presentation, or of the student's opposition to same-sex marriage, is indeed a First Amendment violation." He repeats an allegation in the complaint - that the professor called "the student a 'fascist bastard' in front of the class for having supported the anti-same-sex-marriage Prop. 8, and refused to allow the student to finish the presentation." To this observation, he adds, "Lovely."

Volokh's comments have received over 100 replies. One news aggegator service provides evidence of widespread media publicity surrounding the ADF action.

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