"Laugh At The Crippled Girl" Verdict: We Don't Have The Right To Not Be Offended
Kimball Perry writes at Cincinatti.com that a jury decided on Thursday that Forest Thomer II committed no crime -- a victory for free speech rights (photo of the comic with muscular dystrophy at the link):

To promote the comic career of his friend, Ally Bruener,Thomer walked up to groups of people, pointed at the wheelchair-bound Bruener and asked them, "Do you want to laugh at the crippled girl?"

As the people were trying to recover from the seemingly inappropriate question, Bruener - who has muscular dystrophy - wheeled up, told a joke and then announced where and when her next performance would be.

Lori Salzarulo of the USA Regional Chamber of Commerce complained to police about Thomer's comments.

Police threatened to shock Thomer with a Taser and then arrest him.

Cincinnati Police Officer Dan Kreider charged Thomer with disorderly conduct, accusing him of "grossly abusive language."

That is a crime that could have sent Thomer to jail for up to 30 days and, Thomer insisted, also violated his right to free speech. After Thomer accused the police of censorship, the city twice changed the charges, finally deciding to try him on a charge of "turbulent behavior."

Thomer and his attorney, Danielle Anderson, said they believe Salzarulo wanted Thomer thrown out because she feared his kind of humor would ruin the chamber's event.

Her displeasure, though, doesn't trump free speech rights, even for Thomer's shocking language, the jury decided.

"It might be tasteless and you might not agree with it, but it's legal," Anderson said. "No one else (other than Salzarulo) came forward to complain."

My late friend John Callahan, the quadriplegic cartoonist, used to get all sorts of complaints from "abled" people about the cartoons he made about disabled people. "How would you feel if you were quadriplegic," they'd ask, not knowing he actually was. He just wanted to have disabled people be treated same as we treat able ones -- not with kid gloves.

He used to buzz around Portland in his motorized wheelchair asking people things like, "See my new shoes? I hear they're comfortable."

If a person finds another's speech offensive, they have the right to march up to them and tell them so, not to use the law as a billy club. (And as I find about officers where I live, and through the reading I do in civil liberties, they are often clueless on the law, except for the parts like "Don't rape people.")

via @CincyFan73