Police Support of Public Sexual Harassment on a College Campus

I am attending classes at USF in Tampa, Florida, right now. In addition to the Florida Family Association‘s attempt to shut down the Queer Theory course I am taking by harassing the administration, protesting outside the classroom, and attempting to infiltrate the class (our professor had to take a special roll call to ensure representatives of the FFA were not sitting in posing as students in order to disrupt debate), we also have to deal with this man below. He is on campus every day and has been for the past two years. Since being punched in the face after insulting people of color and calling someone’s girlfriend a whore, he sued the school, which has had the strange effect of actually causing his talks to be supported by the administration in the form of two police officers who stand by while he preaches, for “his safety.” 

Today I was sexually harassed while videotaping this. Rather than engage any more in the pointless debates about the legitimacy of slut-shaming that my previous Onion post generated, I thought I’d just show a small part of the real thing. Here is what happened. I’ve subtitled parts of the video, but also included a full transcript of the video below:

Preacher: How many boys and girls hearing the sound of Brother Mika’s voice are involved in pre-marital sex? 

(Crowd cheers) 

Preacher: God will judge! A whoremonger is a male fornicator. You
can’t go to heaven having sex outside of marriage. How many of you know
what the female counterpart of a whoremonger is? I’ll tell you. A… 
W-H-O-R-E! 

(Crowd cheering) 

Preacher: The bad news is most girls at USF — 50% at least — of
the girls at USF, the UNIVERSITY OF SODOMITES AND FORNICATORS– most
girls at this university are WHORES! (Approaches random girl standing
outside classrooms) Are you a so-whore-ity girl? 

Girl: Don’t make fun of the sisterhood!

Preacher (turning to crowd) — Guys, strike this girl off your
dating list…. She’ll STEAL YOUR VIRGINITY! Especially the
so-whore-ity girls…They go around fornicating like rabbits in a 2×2
cage. It’s a well known fact the girls at USF are putting the crack
whores out of business! The poor crack whores can’t make a living
because the girls at USF are giving it away for free!

Guy in crowd: Are the crackwhores supposed to be making a living?

Guy in crowd #2: Yeah! Go crack whores!

Preacher:  At least the crack whores are earning money. But your girls give it away for free! 

Guy in crowd #2: Yeah! That’s a sin, too!

Preacher: How do i know he’s a sinner? He doesn’t agree with Brother
Mika! (approaching me)You need to get saved! You need to repent!  Hey,
I’ve got a question for you. Are you gonna film Brother Mika, and then
tonight go home and watch that and end up MASTURBATING? 

(Crowd cheers)

Me: You caught me!

Preacher: Hey! I think you’re a masturbator. …

Guy in Crowd #3: I <i>love</i> Satan…

Here’s my song: 1, 2, 3, 4, who’s that dressing like a whore? Could
it be the cheerleaders? Those mini-skirted cheerleaders! 2, 4, 6 8,
horny college students think it’s great! When they lift their legs up
high — (Brother Mika kicks the air) you know that a good whore can’t
be shy!! 7, 8, 9, 10, dressing like a whore is still a sin! Its a
pom-pom burlesque show for men! Ra, ra, ra!!!

[Note: it is not possible for a student to attend class at Cooper Hall without encountering this man.]

Me: I just wanted to know whether you guys considered his asking whether I was going to masturbate to him sexual harassment?

Officer 1: You’re in a public place, and he’s exercising his right
to freedom of speech right now. There is no expectation of privacy
right now.

Me: Yes, but privacy and being called a whore, or accused of performing sex acts with him, are two different things.

Officer 2: If you don’t want to listen to him, you can go away somewhere else.

Officer 1: You can leave. You can actually leave the area if you want.

Me: Would you have the same reaction if he were using derogatory racial terms to speak to African-American students?

Officer 1: (pause) …he has his right to free speech, and people
have the right to stay here — or if they don’t like what he’s saying,
you could leave.

Me: You’re saying yes, if he was using the n-word to talk to black students, you would be okay with that as well?

Officer 1: I’m not okay with it, but it is his right.

Me:  — legally –

Officer 1  — Legally, there is no law that says he can’t.

Me: So — what is sexual harassment, then?

Officer 1–at…the job place?

Me: …on a public college campus.

Officer 1: I’m just concerned with his free speech, and his safety right now.

Me: HIS safety?

Officer 1: Yeah. Everyone’s safety.

Me:  …Right. well, thank you for your time.