How can he not see this???

In a story about a high school student boycott over the allowance of a GayStraight Alliance group to form at the school, James Esseks (litigation director for the ACLU's lesbian and gay-rights project), said this about the boycott:

''The level of reaction or resistance they're encountering illustrates the need for a safe place for these kids to meet,'' Esseks said. ''Can you imagine being a gay or lesbian student in a community where people feel so free in expressing their intolerance? That must be a difficult place to be.''

Did you catch that? (I hope so... I bolded it :-) Mr. Esseks is (implicitly) criticizing the boycotting students for exercising their First Amendment right to disapprove of something! Yes, Mr. Esseks calls it intolerance, but that's a whole other issue. What amazes me is the ACLU's ability to be intolerant of views they disagree with. Wow.