ADF files complaint against L.A. Community College District after professor allegedly calls "Christian" student "fascist bastard": Prop. 8 implicated

02/12/09 ADF Alliance Alert: In its 02/11/09 complaint (C.D.Cal. 09-cv-0995), the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom alleges that the District violated a student's First Amendment rights before, during and after an assigned classroom speech about his religious views. The student, identified in the complaint as a "Christian," described "the ways in which he has witnessed God act both in his life and in the lives of others through miracles." The student also elaborated on his view of "morality," providing "two dictionary definitions of marriage as being between a man and a woman," and "reading two [related?] verses from the Bible." His professor allegedly interrupted him and called him a "fascist bastard." Several weeks before the student gave this speech, the professor is alleged to have told his class that "if you voted yes on Proposition 8, you are a fascist bastard." The complaint characterizes Prop. 8 as "a state ballot measure to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman," even though the California Attorney General, in the ballot summary, stated that Prop. 8 changes "the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California."