The Right of Free Speech ---- and work

To begin, I had a quote at the bottom of my work email. The quote was the text of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Following this quote was a logo to Join NRA (National Rifle Association), with a built in link on the logo.

Now, our company does NOT have any policy about tag-lines on emails, and I believed, wrongly apparently, that as long as my tagline was not racist, sexist, did not denigrate lifestyles, religions, philosophies, etc. etc. I was safe putting this tagline on my e-mails.

However, after having this on my tagline since around the 1st of October, imagine my surprise, chagrin, and then anger when I received an email from my AVP (Associate Vice-President) who gently informed me that he had received feedback that "some people" found my tagline offensive and that they would like for me to remove my reference to the NRA. "OFFENSIVE??!!" What the hell?!??!

I actually wrote a reply to my AVP to tell him how I felt. Our company strongly embraces diversity. We attend diversity classes (mandatory), we have diversity built in to our company goals and objectives. I embrace diversity!! Strongly!! I believe our country can only survive when we rid ourselves of hate groups, racists, sexists, and so on.

I also believe in the 1sts Amendment to the Constitution which says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Let's start this right off with a fact. The Consitution does not state anywhere that there shall be "a separation of Church and State..." That actually came from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson. So, let's just skip that and go to the second phrase, "...abridging the freedom of speech..." That's a good thing. I came from the generation that wore tee-shirts that said "Fu** the Draft" and that was eventually ruled as freedom of speech and could not be used as a reason to arrest people. I have lived through the veterans, (I am a) Baby Boomers, GenXers, GenYers and whatever you want to call this "new" generation of wanting to look like the neighborhood "gansta" or "bitch-ho". And always, FREEDOM OF SPEECH has been guaranteed, except of course, yelling "FIRE" in a crowded room or theater.

Now, if my company does not have tagline requirements, and if I am guaranteed by the US Consititution freedom of speech, why can I not have a tagline that suggests that people join the National Rifle Association?
Maybe it is because there are a lot of little chickensh** for brains people out there that think if you make a law against something, EVERYBODY in the LAND will follow that law. Yeah, sure. That's why every prison in every state in the Union is overcrowded, because of law abiding citizens.

Just so you will know, I removed the tagline, completely. And I have stepped up my search for a project manager position OUTSIDE of my company.