Back on October 21st, the Juneau Empire ran a story about an Adopt-A-Highway sign on North Douglas that several organizations, including the National Organization for Women Juneau Chapter and the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence-Juneau, had petitioned to have removed. The sign, they claim, promotes a fictitious club that “offends, marginalizes, and demeans women” and they want this club removed from all litter cleanup activities and rules put in place to keep clubs like it from participating in the future.

The club? Men’s Crisis Center.

It’s been around since 1987 and while not the most politically correct, the content on their website is most certainly not hateful. In fact, much of the content has nothing to do with women and it’s quite obvious that the intent of the entire site and the club in general is satire, poking fun at radical feminist groups. There’s nothing wrong with that. Free speech swings both ways, no matter what Sarah Palin says.

There were some letters published in the Empire in support of the sign, saying things like “men need support groups too” and that the center “promotes cleanup.” Then the issue seemed to go away, just the way it should have.

Not for long, apparently. On Monday, the Assembly received a recommendation from the Juneau Human Rights Commission to send a letter to the State of Alaska’s Department of Transportation, the agency that oversees the Adopt-A-Highway program, protesting the sign and Men’s Crisis Center’s participation in the program based on their ”sexist and discriminatory statements.” The Assembly approved taking action on this recommendation and are going to draft and mail a letter in protest of the sign and ask that the Men’s Crisis Center be removed from the Adopt-A-Highway program.

Earth to the Assembly… What are you thinking!?

Take a second, breathe, and set aside the angry letters I’m sure you got. Set aside your prejudice. Actually go and look at the Men’s Crisis Center’s website. Consider that it was formed by a guy that’s in a band called Doodoo Wah, a “politically incorrect folk band.” Finally, and most importantly, think about whether you really want to plunge Juneau into another embarrassing Bong Hits 4 Jesus freedom of speech debacle. The Supreme Court has already said it would be unconstitutional for the State of Missouri to ban the KKK from the Adopt-A-Highway program, do you really think they’d be on your side on this one?

Constitutionality is what this comes down to, whether you’re in support of or against the Men’s Crisis Center. How can the Assembly rationally protest the Men’s Crisis Center picking up garbage on the basis of “sexist and discriminatory statements”? Plenty of organizations can be argued to be sexist and/or discriminatory. Have you ever seen a boy in the Girl Scouts? Or a gay, atheist, or agnostic Boy Scout troop leader? Or a non-Catholic member of the Knights of Columbus (who have Adopt-A-Highway signs all over the place)? You may not agree with the decisions of these organizations, but you get the point.

This is a frivolous waste of effort by the City & Borough of Juneau and the time, energy, and tax money paying for it could certainly be better used towards something actually beneficial to all Juneau residents.