Student Sues L.A. College Over Right to Give Anti-Gay Marriage Speech

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles college student is suing his school, saying he was deprived of his right to freedom of speech.

Jonathan Lopez says a public speaking professor berated him in class for making a speech opposing same-sex marriage. He says the professor wouldn't allow him to finish and called him a "fascist."

Lopez is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization. In a letter to the group, the dean says she considers the complaint "extremely serious in nature" and has begun a disciplinary investigation.

But the dean also wrote that two students were "deeply offended" by the speech. She quoted one as saying "this student should have to pay some price for preaching hate in the classroom."

Lopez made the speech at Los Angeles City College in November, days after the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.