Losing Our Right To Free Speech

Yesterday Deadline.com reported that brothers David and Jason Benham have had their “Flip It Forward” television series on HGTV cancelled.

The article states:

After the group Right Wing Watch reported the twins who star in HGTV’s recently greenlit reality series Flip It Forward are anti-gay activists, the network said this morning it had given the hook to the series, which was set to debut in October. Yesterday, HGTV said it was “currently in the process of reviewing all information about the Benhams and we will provide an update as soon as possible.”

The network then tweeted that they were not going to move forward with the series. Now let’s look at the details of this a little more closely.

The article reports:

Right Wing Watch reported Tuesday that David Benham had led a prayer rally outside of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC in 2012, in which he told conservative radio host Janet Mefferd that America’s Christian majority must repent for tolerating  “homosexuality and its agenda that is attacking the nation” and “demonic ideologies tak[ing] our universities and our public school systems.” He also said his brother had joined him in the prayer protest. The group also claimed David leads protests outside of abortion clinics.

So essentially what David Benham is guilty of is politically incorrect speech. He expressed a Biblical view of homosexuality–that does not make him an anti-gay activist any more than gay movie stars are not anti-Christian activists–they are simply gay people (or Christian people) expressing an opinion or living a certain lifestyle.

Anyone in America has the right to stand up for what they believe. We have recently seen an attempt to limit any speech that does not fit a certain template espoused by the political left. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of homosexuality, this is a dangerous precedent.

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