Letter to the Editor: Protect all forms of speech

To the Editor:
In his recent letter to the editor, Gene Averhoff seems to suggest that we should deport American citizens who exercise their first amendment right to symbolic speech. I would like to remind Mr. Averhoff that the freedom to engage in expressive or symbolic speech, even when it takes offensive forms, is one of our country’s cherished values. As Justice Brennan held in 1989, “Freedom of speech protects actions that society may find offensive, but society’s outrage alone is not justification for suppressing free speech.” We should be proud to live in a country where no symbol, however venerated, has the power to trump our fundamental constitutional rights.

Cate St. Clair, Waukon