I recognize this hypothetical, based very indirectly on a real incident, is more speech than religion, but I hope Eugene will allow my post to go forward in any case.
Suppose a LGBT student group at a public university invites a guest speaker to present a scheduled lecture in a university classroom. The campus administration allows student groups to invite speakers and to sign up to use campus facilities with few restrictions. It is a common practice. A group of religious students strongly opposed to the speaker's message disrupt the speaker's presentation after it has begun. They commandeer the front of the room and chant anti-LGBT messages for 3 - 4 minutes. Then they leave. (Alternatively, we can reverse the facts and have the presentation of a religious speaker invited by a religious group of students disrupted by gay rights proponents to a similar extent.) I have two questions for list members. 1. Is the conduct of the protestors protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment? Does the First Amendment prevent the university from prohibiting this kind of protest through content neutral time, place and manner regulations and from punishing the protestors' conduct if the regulations are disobeyed? (If you think that this is or is not protected speech, are there particular cases you rely on to support this conclusion?) 2. Does the answer to the first question change in any way because religious speakers, protestors, and messages are involved in these incidents. Alan Brownstein
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