This I guess relates more to the discussion with Dan.
Here's a list of things I think we agree on:
1. Chris Gayle has the right to not be subjected to the coercive force of the state for asking Mel McLaughlin out on air.
2. However, Chris Gayle is a dickhead to do that.
3. Private citizens and private corporations have every right to roundly pan Gayle's comments, and in the Renegades case, to fine him for his conduct.
4. Everybody deserves the same human rights, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, ***uality etc.
Now, the things we might not agree on:
5. You or I have no
moral right to tell Mel McLaughlin that her response was an overreaction or underreaction. We don't know what's going on in her head.
6. Refusing to take people's grievances seriously is a dick move -- and is a problem when the people whose grievances are often not taken seriously are disproportionately in positions lacking power (i.e. this narrative of 'you overreacted' is part of broader social trends that delegitimise people's experience and serves to effectively silence them, despite both parties having free speech rights).
In short, this has absolutely nothing to do with free speech.