When Graham Linehan landed Sept. 1 at London’s Heathrow Airport, the Irish comedy writer was met and arrested by five armed police officers.

His alleged “crime”? Three posts he had made on X.

Linehan, who is known for the sitcom “Father Ted,” erred in expressing his distaste for transgender activists on social media. In turn, he was treated like a criminal mastermind for hurting some people’s feelings.

The crackdown on free speech in the United Kingdom, under the guise of promoting kindness, should serve as a clear warning to Americans, where some states are trying to limit speech on similar grounds.

As Linehan put it in a Substack piece about his ordeal, he was arrested for “jokes.” He was released on bail on the sole condition that he doesn’t post on X.

“In a country where (pedophiles) escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer,” Linehan wrote.

The thought police want the actual police involved? No thanks.

The comedy writer says he was interrogated for three posts from April and was accused of inciting violence against trans people.

In one, Linehan wrote: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”

Just think about this for a minute. Linehan was detained and questioned by the police for his stance on preserving women’s spaces for women. (The whole inquisition landed him in the hospital because the arrest and questioning spiked his blood pressure to alarming levels.)

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling – who has also faced legal scrutiny for her comments on transgender issues – bluntly summed up Linehan’s arrest this way: “What the f--- has the UK become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable.”

While the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act purportedly protects freedom of speech, it comes with many more caveats than our First Amendment. Hate speech related to race, gender, sexuality and religion is illegal and is treated as a “crime.”

Hate speech is also broadly defined, and it includes speech on social media.

“I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online − all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers,” Linehan wrote, arguing this proves “the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech.”

In the US, humor and candor are protected (for now)

Thanks to the strength of America’s First Amendment, we’re protected from the government hostility that Linehan experienced based on his speech alone.

That hasn’t stopped progressive states like California, Colorado and New York from trying to push those limits.

On Aug. 29, a federal district court stood up for free speech by ruling that two California laws are unconstitutional. One of the laws punished certain political commentary, such as satirical memes and parodies of politicians. The other law required large online platforms to remove certain posts the government didn’t like.

The Alliance Defending Freedom represented conservative satire site The Babylon Bee and the video-sharing platform Rumble in separate lawsuits.

“When it comes to political expression, the antidote is not prematurely stifling content creation and singling out specific speakers but encouraging counter speech, rigorous fact-checking, and the uninhibited flow of democratic discourse,” the court wrote.

As Linehan learned firsthand, it’s a scary thing indeed when we give the government power to police our opinions.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Comedy writer arrested for anti-trans tweets? UK speech crackdown is a warning. | Opinion

Reporting by Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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