Two Kingsborough College Students File Suit Against Brooklyn-Based School Alleging Their Right To Free Speech Infringed On When Officials Denied Request To Host Seminar On “Negative Consequences” Of Same Sex Marriage

Two Kingsborough Community College students says the school has attacked their right to free speech by trying to thwart their plans to hold a seminar on the “negative consequences” of same sex marriage, and by forcing them to stop handing out anti-abortion leaflets on campus, according to a report by Your NABE.com. In court papers filed March 7th, both Joseph Hayon, both the president of the Brooklyn Tea Party and the chairman of Kingsborough’s Republican Club, and Shmuel Mayteles, say school officials threatened to remove them from campus if they did not stop handing out anti-abortion pamphlets in 2009, and then rescheduled a forum on same sex marriage, moving it to a smaller location. Hayon’s attorney, Travis Barham, said “Students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs. In this case, campus security officers and several administrators tried to stop a student from passing out pro-life fliers even though no campus policy prohibited him from doing so. Kingsborough simply cannot silence speech because some people find it offensive.” Officials eventually allowed the students to leave the flyers on a table on campus, but would not permit them distribute the pamphlets by hand. The suit also alleges that school officials tried to interfere with the content of the same sex marriage forum by demanding a faculty member “moderate” the event. Hayon, 33, who unsuccessfully ran for State Assembly in 2010, says that officials assigned a faculty moderator, Professor Christopher Chapman, to counter the anti-gay marriage views professed at the forum. Both Hayon and Mayteles declined to comment on the suit, however Kingsborough attorney Thaddeus Hackworth denied the school has done anything wrong, saying “The college supports the rights of individual students, faculty, staff and student organizations to engage in expressive activities.”According to Hackworth, Hayon and the Republican Club were recently able to host another event on the campus titled License to Kill, The Abortion Scourge, after reaching an agreement with the college on a suitable location, and allowing a faculty advisor to be present. When running for office, Hayon promoted himself as a “pro-family” candidate, promising to strike down bills that would legalize late-term abortion and order private schools to teach same sex marriage as “moral.” He also pledged to oppose then-Governor Patterson’s order to recognize same sex marriages performed outside of the state.