U.S. court sides with Oakland in free speech case

By Julia Cheever, Bay City News Service

March 5, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled today that Oakland city officials had the right to remove a flier posted by two city workers to announce a religious group devoted to traditional family values.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the action by a supervisor in the city's Community and Economic Development Agency in 2003 didn't violate the free speech rights of the two workers.

The two employees, Regina Rederford and Robin Christy, posted the flier on a City Hall employee bulletin board after another group of workers announced a meeting of a gay and lesbian employee association.

The flier announced the formation of a group called the Good News Employee Association.

It was entitled "Preserve Our Workplace with Integrity" and called on "people of faith" to join in a forum to express their views "with respect for the natural family, marriage and family values."

Although the brief announcement did not mention homosexuality, city officials said the message was homophobic and aimed at sexual-orientation harassment in violation of city antidiscrimination policy.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court sided with Oakland and upheld a similar ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco in 2005.

The court said there was only "minimal interference with appellants' free speech rights" because officials removed only a single flier and allowed the workers to submit a new flier, subject to certain editorial restrictions.

The court wrote, "Public employers are permitted to curtail employee speech as long as their legitimate administrative interests outweigh the employees' interest in freedom of speech."

The panel said city officials "had a more substantial interest in maintaining the efficient operation of their office than appellants had in their speech."

Erica Harrold, a spokeswoman for the Oakland city attorney's office, said, "We're grateful that the courts are supporting our stance that people should not be harassed in the workplace."

Lawyer for the two workers were not immediately available for comment, but in the past have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary.

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