New World Notes - Gay Rights as a Free-Speech Issue

This week on New World Notes: radio program #374, May 5, 2015, from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. (and on Wednesday from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.), host Kenneth Dowst looks at rights and wrongs.

The Supreme Court is now considering whether same-sex marriage is a right protected by the Constitution. The legal and Constitutional issues here are very complex and also very interesting. Which brings to mind Paul Siegel's interesting 2010 public presentation, "Gay Rights as a Free-Speech Issue."

Siegel has advice for anyone, particularly gays, wanting to challenge discrimination in court: Think 1st Amendment, not 14th. This intelligent and often funny talk should have wide appeal.

Highlights include a funny account of what the phone company would and would not allow into the Yellow Pages... stories of clueless school administrators who think the 1st Amendment does not apply to teenagers... and the story of a gay student suspended from high school and "outed" to her parents for the crime of kissing her girlfriend.

With a new introduction by K.D.

Paul Siegel is longtime civil-liberties activist. He is also Professor of Communication at the University of Hartford.

Siegel spoke at the University of Hartford on April 27, 2010. I recorded, condensed, and edited his talk for radio broadcast. It was originally broadcast, as New World Notes #118, in June 2010.

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "gun") of WWUH-FM, a community service of the University of Hartford.

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both A-Infos Radio Project and (from #90 onwards) the Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chronological listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page; each page has links to the recorded audio; and a handy table of contents will quickly find the installment you want.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want--and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern): 

• Sundays, 12:30 to 1:00 PM, WIEC-LP, FM 102.7 (Eau Claire, WI). Repeats Mondays at noon.
• Mondays, 10:30 to 11:00 AM, WVEW-LP, FM 107.7 (Brattleboro, VT).
• Tuesdays, Noon to 12:30 PM, WWUH FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT); also on WAPJ FM 89.9 and 105.1 (Torrington, CT), WJDW FM 89.7 (Somers, CT), and WWEB FM 89.9 (Wallingford, CT). Repeats Wednesdays at 8:30 PM.
• Tuesdays, 8:30 to 9:00 PM, WWUH FM 91.3 (West Hartford, CT). Same time on WJDW FM 89.7 (Somers, CT) and WWEB FM 89.9 (Wallingford, CT).
• Fridays, 10:30 to 11:00 AM, WHUS FM 91.7 (Storrs, CT)
• Saturdays, 8:00 to 8:30 AM, WAZU FM 90.7 (Peoria, IL) & online. Repeats Mondays at 12:30 AM.
• Saturdays, 1:00-1:30 PM, KRFP FM 92.5, Radio Free Moscow (Moscow, ID) 
• Various days & times (multiple times per week), KGIG FM 104.9 (Modesto, CA) & online. Same on KHCF FM 89.9 (Gilroy, CA).

Any time: Listen to or download any installment. Just go to New World Notes and click a link to the audio at the top of the page. (Every installment has a page on the Web site, and every page has links to the audio.)