Honest opinion leads to alarming backlash

Mel Bailey, North Las Vegas

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

An editorial in Tuesday’s Las Vegas Sun, “Controlling speech,” has broader implications than policy at UNLV. Just look around. It seems that anywhere you look someone is trying to control what is being said.

The most blatant example is the Miss USA contest where a judge, Perez Hilton, did not like the answer Miss California provided to his question. There was a rash of complaints that Miss California, Carrie Prejean, should have been more politically correct in her response.

Yet, I have heard very little about the hate that spewed out of Perez Hilton’s mouth and was viewed across the nation. What poured out of Mr. Hilton’s mouth was pure venom. If he were a rattlesnake, someone could have grabbed him by the back of the neck and milked him.

But I recall not a peep about his trash mouth. Mr. Hilton should have his mouth washed out with soap on national TV so that all the children who saw his antics could see what happens when using language like his. Then he should be prosecuted for hate speech. Just because he happens to be gay doesn’t give him a free pass to use whatever language he wants.