FLASHBACK: Gay-Pride Flag-Burning Ohio Courts.: US Flag good to burn - Gay Flag is protected

AP - 1st Amendment Center ^ | 03.25.03 | staff AP

[rface]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A state appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that a flag-burning was protected by the Constitution, saying a city has a right to regulate open burning.

The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled March 20 in the case of two men who burned a gay-pride flag during a parade in Columbus in 2001.

The men, Charles Spingola, 47, and Thomas Meyer, 49, both of Newark, had been charged with open burning, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by as much as six months in jail.

But former Franklin County Environmental Judge Richard Pfeiffer ruled that the flag-burning was protected under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

Tom Condit, attorney for Spingola and Meyer, said it is a "virtual certainty" that he will appeal the case to the Ohio Supreme Court.

The appellate court said regulating open burning "is unquestionably within the city's constitutional power."

"Requiring that one obtain a permit before engaging in such conduct places only a minor restriction on free expression," visiting Judge William Harsha wrote for the court in a unanimous opinion. The fire code does not prohibit flag-burning, he said, but does ban ceremonial burning without a permit.

The appeals court sent the case back to Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Harlan Hale.

Ray Vasvari, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said that as long as the fire code takes no position on the message a flag burner is trying to convey and spells out the reasons a permit can be approved or denied, then it is constitutional.

[rface]

I am trying to find other articles about how some flags are good to burn, but others are not.

[Unam Sanctam]

I don't see how one can justify one and not the other. Either their both freedom of expression or neither is. Same for cross burnings.

[TexasCajun]

"Go grab a gay pride or Islamofacist flag, set that on fire somewhere, and see what happens to you -- if you want to find out how 'universally understood' flag-burning is."

-Rush Limbaugh-

[Puppage]

I burned a Puerto Rican flag once

[DoughtyOne]

The thought is that if you burn a flag other than the U.S. flag, it's an act of hate. If you burn the U.S. flag it's simply an act of protest.

It's amazing we still have any semblence of a nation left whatsoever, with the milti-pronged assault that's being launched against it, from without and within.

[weegee]

Political correctness. The criminalization of conservative thought.

The despots don't want you questioning their agenda.

[robertpaulsen]

I bet this one's protected.

[oolatec]

Seems to me like the ruling is only asking would-be flag burners to obtain a permit... ?

[robertpaulsen]

Oooh. I bet you can't burn this one either.

[dhs12345]

Point: a permit is required to burn any flag.

Sounds silly. But, maybe they don't care one way or the other just as long as you have your $50 flag burning permit.

[RetiredSWO]

...only a minor restriction on free expression

Any Restriction is TOO MUCH

[New Girl]

I didn't realize that the rainbow flag was recognized and protected under federal law.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Once the majority of Americans have turned gay (out of choice and/or cultural pressure from the media), it will become illegal to burn the national flag too.

[GOPJ]

bump

[gaijin]

Flag burning releases toxins into the air, wastes gasoline, and presents a danger to by-standers.

What responsible city council would allow such behavior.

Flag-burning presents a level of danger several orders of magnitude above smoking, yet smoking is banned in nearly ALL public places.

THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE WAY OF SKINNING A CAT --the left taught us.

[jwalburg]

You mean flag burning contributes to global warming?

[gidget7]

Someone stole or ripped a homo rainbow flag in a town near me, it was lauded by the media as a hate crime, and not sure, (I will try to find the article) but I believe the person will be prosecuted. Course that's MA, but what happens here spreads like a plaque!!

[BenLurkin]

[Buck W.]

"Course that's MA, but what happens here spreads like a plaque!!"

Probably need a good dental hygienist.

[Captain Rhino]

Ray Vasvari, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said that as long as the fire code takes no position on the message a flag burner is trying to convey and spells out the reasons a permit can be approved or denied, then it is constitutional.

Thank you very much ACLU for the strategy to prohibit burning of the United States flag! Just ban ALL flag burning without a federal permit and then don't issue them...er...that is, set a multitude of impossible conditions to be met by the permit applicant.