| Comment | As with every place this is argued on reddit, this comes down to a fundamental understanding of what freedom of speech is.
Freedom of speech is the right to say whatever you want without the *government* punishing you for it.
Freedom of speech is **not** the right to say whatever you want whenever you want anywhere you want.
Freedom of speech allows you to write articles in newspapers, or to arrange private meetings, and say whatever you want (albeit in this country and many others up to the limits of hate speech). It does not allow you to say what you want in other public or private spaces, where your speech is limited by, for example, laws around harassment or public order, and other people's rights to privacy and quality of life.
For example, I cannot go and stand outside your house and sing You Cannae Push Your Granny Aff The Bus for 16 hours each day at your bedroom window, because that would be a disturbance of the peace and violate your right to privacy.
Similarly, the Orange Order do not have the fundamental right to sing The Orange Maid of Sligo twice weekly on Sauchiehall St, because that would go against other people's rights to use that public space.
What they do in their own lodges, however, is fine. |
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