Little Sign, Big Symbol

In other states, same-sex couples are fighting for the right to adopt children. South Dakota wants to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting a highway . When the Sioux Empire Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Sioux City, S.D., applied to the Adopt-a-Highway program, the Department of Transportation said no. The decision has so divided South Dakotans that Gov. William Janklow is threatening to scrap the entire program--not the bravest way to govern.

We’ve all seen the little green signs here in California saluting the good citizenry of volunteers, from Bette Midler to the Uptown Gay and Lesbian Alliance. At such a distance, the brouhaha in South Dakota may seem almost laughable. It’s not. It is an assault on free speech. The excuse used to deny the application--that the coalition is an “advocacy group”--doesn’t wash. Political groups and animal rights activists belong to South Dakota’s Adopt-a-Highway program and have the signs to prove it. The Sioux Empire Gay and Lesbian Coalition rightfully filed a federal complaint alleging violations of equal protection and free speech rights.

The Ku Klux Klan filed a similar suit in 1997 and won the right to adopt a stretch of Missouri highway. Missouri and 28 other states, including California, repulsed at appearing to endorse the racist group, appealed. The U.S. Supreme Court in March refused to hear the appeal and let stand a lower court ruling that Missouri “cannot use its regulations to target the Klan’s unfortunate beliefs.”

The Sioux Empire Gay and Lesbian Coalition should not in any way be lumped with the Klan, but the same free speech right applies. The Sioux City coalition, far from being a hate group, is the target of such organizations. It is also the target of official prejudice, as the South Dakota government has shown.