digitalcommons.nyls.edu Faculty Scholarship Articles & Chapters 2016 Freedom of Speech and Equality: Do We Have to Choose? Nadine Strossen New York Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/fac_articles_chapters Part of the First Amendment Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Recommended Citation 25 J.L. & Pol'y 185 (2016) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at DigitalCommons@NYLS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles & Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@NYLS. FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EQUALITY: DO WE HAVE TO CHOOSE?^ Nadine Strossen* INTRODUCTION As a lifelong activist on behalf of both equality and free speech, I am convinced, based on actual experience, that these core values are mutually reinforcing and not, as some have argued, in tension with each other. Moreover, I am convinced that this is true even for offensive speech that affronts our most cherished beliefs, including our belief-to quote the Declaration of Independence-that we are all "created equal" and equally "endowed .. with certain unalienable rights."' On campuses, polls show substantial support for- suppressing offensive speech in general and hate speech in particular 2 because "This essay is based on a lecture that Nadine Strossen delivered at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on March 24, 2016. Prof. Strossen gratefully acknowledges her Research Assistants, New York Law School students Jakub Brodowski, Julio Piccirillo, and Rachel Searle, for their assistance with converting the lecture to essay format, including by drafting most of the footnotes.