The community college adviser who now faces charges for trying to disrupt the controversial “It’s O.K. To Be White” talk at the University of Connecticut saw her case pushed back to next month on Wednesday, but claimed outside the courthouse she acted to fight fascism.
The Hartford Courant‘s David Owens reported that 33-year-old Catherine Gregory of Willimantic, currently on leave from her job at Quinebaug Valley Community College, said she is receiving “support from people around the world.”
“I want to thank everyone from around the world for their support and solidarity in the struggle against racism and fascism,” Gregory said.
The raucous November 28 speaking engagement, in which UConn Republicans invited Gateway Pundit reporter Lucian Wintrich to offer remarks on identity politics, was shut down by police shortly after Gregory approached Wintrich’s lectern and swiped his notes, prompting the conservative journalist to chase after her in an attempt to wrestle back his stolen property.
Wintrich was later slapped with breach of peace charges, but earlier this week, prosecutors dropped the charges and charged Gregory with sixth-degree attempted larceny and disturbing the peace.
Outside Rockville Superior Court, Gregory’s attorney, John Schoenhorn, defended Gregory’s actions, labeling them as a form of protest, and had some choice words for Wintrich:
“There is a difference between protected hate speech … and when that language goes to invective against individuals, that’s considered fighting words and is not protected by the First Amendment,” he said, according to the Courant. “What occurred at UConn while Wintrich was speaking went to specific insults and invective against individuals based on racist statements and homophobic statements and we intend to defend and demonstrate that to justify the actions of Ms. Gregory.”
(CNN screenshot) 
