Jerusalem To Allow Anti-Gay Billboards After Attorney General’s Intervention
January 22, 2020Jerusalem will allow anti-gay billboards in its streets, which it had previously removed.
Six months ago, ahead of the annual gay pride parade, the municipality of Jerusalem ordered the removal of homophobic signs put up with messages such as “a mother and a father = a family,” and “the courage to be normal.” Since then, the Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit has been asked to give an opinion on the matter, and has decided to allow the anti-gay signs.
As ‘Haaretz’ writes, the Attorney General believes that the signs are covered by the freedom of expression and that the city overstepped its authority by canceling that campaign.
In his brief, Mendelblit wrote that “a municipality’s authority to limit signs in its jurisdiction on the ground that they offend public sensibilities should be limited to very exceptional cases, when the insult is extreme and more than is tolerable in a democratic society.
“The consideration of harm done to public sentiment was unjustified in these circumstances.”
Following Mendelblit’s legal opinion, the city reversed its position. Attorney Eli Malka said that the city will not prevent the hanging of these signs although it believes that hanging these signs during the parade “justified their removal.
“The city is aware of the right to freedom of expression but believes that under some circumstances and in light of past experience it had the right to deny posting such signs on the eve of the parade,” he said.
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