BAY CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Bay City Commission public comment code prevented “[d]erogatory comments directed at another person,” “vulgarities” and “demeaning city officials, officers, or employees” —until one free speech organization called for change.

“A public commenter can heap praise on city officials all day, but the moment that they say something that a city official subjectively thinks is demeaning, they violated the city code,” Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), told WNEM when the controversy began. “And that sort of viewpoint discrimination is one of the worst ways that the government can violate the First Amendment.”

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In its original letter, penned last summer, FIRE cited a Supreme Court case that found protections for free speech and opinion, even when it included vulgarities. The case considered Paul Robert Cohen, who entered a courthouse with a shirt featuring a vulgar criticism of the draft, and judges concluded that he was within his rights to do so.

The Court wrote that if governments could “forbid particular words”—including vulgarities—they “might soon seize upon the censorship of particular words as a convenient guise for banning the expression of unpopular views.”

In December, the Bay City Commission approved amended meeting rules that eliminated the “derogatory,” “vulgar,” and “demeaning” public comment guidelines.

“Citizens of Bay City are now able to speak freely at city commission meetings – even when they talk about city officials or employees in ways the commission might not like,” said a spokesperson for FIRE, Carrie Robison. “FIRE commends the Bay City Commission for aligning its meeting comment policies with the Constitution.”