Speech rights

Public buildings that provide space for groups to meet shouldn't bar those who want to pray or worship, any more than they should bar a group because of its viewpoint or the ethnicity of its members. The Upper Arlington Public Library erred in this respect, and U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith ruled against the library.

Citizens for Community Values, a conservative group known for fighting pornography and opposing legal protections for gays, sued the library after it denied the group use of the library's meeting space in February. The library had approved a permit for the group but, after learning that the meeting would include prayer and religious singing, told the group it would have to drop those parts of the meeting or it couldn't use the library.

Smith ruled that singling out the "inherently religious elements" of an event and banning them constitutes illegal discrimination based on viewpoint.

Schools routinely allow churches to use school buildings for services outside of school time, without compromising the wall of separation between church and state. Libraries need be no different.