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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost had a challenge on his hands in trying to explain First Amendment rights to a school superintendent last week. It is difficult to explain a right so many people believe they understand and yet grossly misinterpret in an era of trolling, triggering and too much time on our hands.

Lebanon City Schools Superintendent Isaac Seever made a mistake when he asked parents and religious leaders not to protest on campus, after he had already supported the First Amendment rights of a group calling itself the After School Satan Club to meet regularly at a Lebanon elementary school.

Yost had to explain to Seever that BOTH groups rights should be supported, after Seever wrote a letter in which he pleaded with parents and the community not to protest on school property because we serve a young student population and some of them may have no idea why adults are gathering in support or opposition on Thursday afternoon.

Yost rightly described the Satan Club as an attention-seeking group, but nonetheless correctly assessed they have a right to meet in the public building. Seever seemed to understand that part. What he missed was others right to protest the move.

The area around the school is a public forum. Public streets, sidewalks, and parks have time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions,' Yost wrote. Content-based restrictions on political speech in a public forum just dont fly.

Such a strong statement from the highest-ranking school official, intended to protect the schools controversial decision, sent to all Lebanon families, in coordination with the Lebanon Police, is just the sort of government policy that chills the exercise of First Amendment rights, even if it fall[s] short of a direct prohibition,' Yost wrote.

Too many people today understand First Amendment rights only when they believe those rights protect THEM. When it comes to the rights of those with whom they disagree, that understanding disappears.

Yost was right to step in, reminding Seever First Amendment rights cannot be invoked only when convenient. Heres hoping Seever and a great many other people learn the lesson.

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Explaining the First Amendment | News, Sports, Jobs - Marietta Times