Prosecuting hate speech is more dangerous than hate speech

In the UK, it’s against the law to declare homosexuality a sin.

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

That first graph is so Orwell-ian it seems a parody. And who exactly are these homosexual police community support officers? I imagine if certain people held that title here I’d be charged with harassing, alarming or distressing Petty Queer Establishment types — or maybe with a hate crime against myself.

I typically eschew the “slippery slope” argument but this slope is covered by a sheet of Arctic ice.

(Anyone care to support this assault on free speech?)