I am free to be whatever the fuck I want to be. Nobody, included my elected leadership has any right to tell me what I am. And if what I choose to be… is offensive to you, Cesar Stewart Morales, you can shut your big flapping lips up.
Note: The author if this post is not homophobic or anti-GLBTQQIAPTS+.
There, I did it. This was a purposefully offensive statement which is bound to rile up everyone up. But at the end of the day… this is actually freedom of speech, self expression.
This isn’t Twitter or Facebook… this place is uncensored. It is a platform owned and operated by my friends where I can speak my mind without fear of censorship. Freedom of speech and self expression exists to the writers of Framingham Unfiltered.
All of us have the opportunity to attain Freedom of Speech, but it is not where Trump told you that it was. Twitter and Facebook all offer freedom of speech up until a point where their terms and conditions are violented.
True Freedom of speech can be attained in a couple ways. All of us have the right to yell on the street corner as free speech. Freedom of speech also allows you to participate in the government. You have a right to an opinion, and you have a right to be heard.
Here in Framingham, we call it Public Participation… At every city meeting, there is a public participation portion. As a public participant, you have the right to say whatever you want, or sing, or hum, or beat box, you can even recite hexes.
When called upon, the floor is absolutely yours for a set amount of time, and you have the right to say anything… or absolutely nothing.
On Tuesday night a public participant of the city council meeting was told that his choice of “he/him/whatever” was offensive by city councilor Cesar Stewart Morales. Pre-pandemic this was never a consideration, however the Zoom format prompts users for preferred pronouns, so this participant chose his.
It was more than obvious that this public participant wrote “whatever” just to fill in the box. Some people don’t care about pronouns. Some do.
Even more offensive than “whatever” as a pronoun, is that Cesar Stewart-Morales would interrupt a person acting within the first amendment, the freedom of speech, expressionist portion of public participation, trouncing on the participant’s rights.
The fact that Stewart-Moarales would find someone’s self identification, whatever it was, whether conforming or non-conforming to normal pronoun choices offensive in itself is offensive. Even more offensive, Stewart-Morales forced a change to a chosen selected pronoun.
As a elected leader pushing the LBGTQ+ agenda, second guessing an self identification, this should be offensive to the city as a whole.
As a city council, buying into Stewart-Moarles complaint as a “legitimate complaint”, they offend all, quashing the freedom of speech and self expressionism that their public participation rules not only provide, but also encourage.