Freedom of speech is a hallmark of American democracy. But the line between protected speech, and those comments deemed hateful or hurtful and which can be punished, is murky. The newly created state Office of Civil Rights Advocate seeks to make that distinction — and to make people aware that there is a difference.
Last week, the civil rights office took its first case to court. In it, state attorneys accused a Warren woman of repeatedly threatening and harassing her downstairs neighbor, Kenneth Potts, a gay man suffering from AIDs. A Superior Court judge sided with the state, barring the accused, Theresa Deschenes, from having intentional contact with her neighbor.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said Deschene’s actions crossed the line from tactless name-calling to injurious language. “Ultimately it boiled down to, ‘Alright, is it free speech and is it protected, or is it one of those areas that’s [punishable] because it’s offensive?’ ” Lynch says. The judge “said essentially the state may punish words that may inflict pain on somebody.”
The AG adds, “We’re talking about a continuous, vehement, vicious, hateful, threatening language over a protracted period of time.”
The post of civil rights’ advocate was created last year by the General Assembly. The legislation allows the advocate to file civil complaints and pursue fines up to $5000. Rhode Island already has statutes that criminalize hate crimes, but Lynch says the new civil law allows state attorneys to seek a court order barring allegedly offensive behavior, and it has a lower burden of proof in securing a court injunction. “We felt more tools are necessary, and [the Deschenes case] is a perfect illustration why,” he says.
Lynch says he felt it was important to “memorialize” the office through legislation, “because there are some areas that are so dramatically and deeply important that they must be preserved in law, so that they’re not at the whim of the sitting attorney general.”
The civil rights advocate is Thomas Palombo, whom Lynch appointed to the post in June. Palombo has been an assistant attorney general for 16 years and has served since 1992 on the Rhode Island Commission on Prejudice and Bias, which helps train police officers about hate crimes.
For now, Palombo is a one-man operation. “I know that at some point in time, we’ll need to seek money in our budget to fully establish the Office of Civil Rights Advocate,” he says. “Until then, we’re going to do as much possible as I can.” There’s no shortage of cases, and Palombo and Lynch expect more from the publicity in the Deschenes’ case.
“Unfortunately, I have to tell you there’s a lot of this stuff going on in Rhode Island,” Palombo says, “whether it’s anti-Semitic, against black [people], or against someone’s sexual orientation.”
