“You can’t criminalize the other guy’s opinion,” said Filicchia. “What they’re doing is unconstitutional, un-American and plain, flat-out wrong. I don’t know how they get away with it. No group can tell you what to think!”
By Christina Pazzanese, Globe Correspondent
A Watertown man is criticizing the Town Council for adopting a program that seeks to curb hate crimes, saying he believes it violates his right to free speech.
Ralph Filicchia, 71, said he’s “not a hater” but believes the town’s participation in the Anti-Defamation League of New England’s No Place For Hate program infringes on his freedom to hold opinions that may go against the grain.
“People should be free to express things without being charged with hatemongering or hate speech,” said Filicchia, who is retired but does some freelance writing on political issues. “Isn’t the whole idea of free speech to protect offensive speech?” Filicchia hung a Confederate flag outside his Bellevue Road home last week in protest, saying he would leave it up until a “No Place for Hate” sign in front of Town Hall is removed.