Judges rule U.S. sex policy is illegal. Tying health funds to a moral...

[Bozita]

... moral stance violates free speech.

Stand tall. We've got a pair of 1st Amendment victories from federal courts. Kudos to all of those folks who litigated in the name of freedom. I salute you.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/19/MNG43IULH71.DTL

2 judges rule U.S. sex policy is illegal
Tying health funds to a moral stance violates free speech
- Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Friday, May 19, 2006


Washington -- Two federal judges in the past two weeks have ruled unconstitutional the government's policy of forcing U.S. health groups to denounce prostitution as a condition for receiving funds for international AIDS work.

Both judges said the requirement violated the First Amendment right to free speech.

The most recent ruling, issued Thursday in Washington by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, found that the regulation "casts too wide a net and is not narrowly tailored," forcing aid organizations to "parrot the government's policies" and preventing them from using even privately raised funds to assist sex workers with AIDS prevention.

On May 9, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero issued a similar ruling in New York. The government's "somewhat cavalier take-it-or-leave-it answer to an infringement of speech -- which can more or less be characterized as 'if you don't like it, lump it' -- is simply not in keeping with the expectations our society derives from First Amendment freedoms," he wrote.

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