Former Mayor Mark Galasso wants his freedom of speech protected––even if it means displaying a profane banner at his home.
Mr. Galasso asked the village board for that protection last Tuesday, defending his right to fly his F Biden banner, with the F-word written out
Mayor Becky Terk and trustees didn’t respond, but officials later agreed that Mr. Galasso had the right to fly the banner.
Addressing the village board at its monthly meeting, Mr. Galasso recalled a protest in Veterans’ Memorial Centre Park in March 2017. There, he said, a girl “about eight or nine years old” held an F Trump banner, and to Mr. Galasso’s knowledge, nobody objected.
“There was no outrage at the vulgarity,” Mr. Galasso said.
But he’s heard of complaints about his banner and called for fair treatment.
“You defend everyone’s rights equally,” Mr. Galasso said. “It should apply to both sides.
“If we can’t say what we want to say, it’s not America.”
Contacted after the meeting, Codes Officer Mike Piccolo and Police Chief Jeff Brown confirmed that a few complaints came to them.
“We can’t do anything about it,” Mr. Piccolo said. “I think it’s freedom of speech.”
Chief Brown agreed, adding that the banner “is on private property, so it’s protected speech.”
Obscenity laws cover graphics but “don’t deal with profane speech,” Chief Brown said.
Passionately anti-President Biden, Mr. Galasso argued that energy prices have risen, unemployment “is starting to climb, and the US is bombing Syria all “in the seven week’s this man’s been in office.”
That’s why Mr. Galasso is flying his banner.
“At what point do we stand up and say ‘enough is enough?’ ” he asked.
Mr. Galasso is just as concerned with the complaints about his banner. Liberals leave no room for discussion, he said.
“There is no one less willing to consider an alternative point of view than an open-minded liberal,” he said.
“That’s said with intended irony. There’s no such thing as an open-minded liberal.”