Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco has issued a silly decision, upholding the right of the City of Oakland to remove from a municipal bulletin board a flyer announcing the formation of a group to promote the "natural family" while conitnuing to allow various gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups to use the city—owned bulletin boards. This would seem to self—evidently embody viewpoint discrimination.

Judge Walker's reasoning:

The women had other means of communicating their views, such as talking to coworkers during lunch breaks, and the city's actions were a "proportionate response'' to a posting that disturbed at least one coworker, Walker said.

If disturbing at least one worker is the critereon, then many postings to the bulletin board may have to be removed, I suspect. And if the existence of alternative means of expression is sufficient to justify the censorship,m then why have bulletin boards at all?

Let the appeals process begin.

Thomas Lifson  2 17 05