Iowa court affirms hate crime conviction of man who left anti-gay notes at homes with Pride flags...

Handwritten notes with anti-gay slurs turned up in June of 2021 taped to the front doors of five renters and homeowners in the town of Boone who displayed rainbow flags or decals.

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the hate crime conviction Friday of a man who posted hand-written notes at homes with rainbow flags and emblems, urging them to “burn that gay flag.”

The majority rejected the claim by Robert Clark Geddes that his conviction for trespassing as a hate crime violated his free speech rights. But a dissenting justice said a hate crime conviction wasn’t appropriate since it wasn’t clear if the people displaying the symbols were actually associated with the LGBTQ community.

As the court noted, the rainbow flag has come to symbolize support for LGBTQ rights. The majority said the state statute in question does not criminalize speech, but rather conduct with a specific intent — trespassing because the property owners or residents had associated themselves with a protected class.

“The individuals’ display of the LGBTQ+ flag or flag decal on their own properties was an exercise of First Amendment rights; the defendant’s surreptitious entry onto those properties to post his harassing notes was not,” the court said.