'Insulting' to be dropped from section 5 of Public Order Act
The use of insulting language will no longer be illegal in cases in which a specific victim cannot be identified, the home secretary, Theresa May, has said.
In a government climb down, the Public Order Act that covers speech and writing on signs and states: "A person is guilty of an offence if he uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour", will be changed to remove the word insulting. The move follows a high-profile campaign which united Christian and secular groups and was spearheaded by the comedian Rowan Atkinson, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the former shadow home secretary David Davis.
The push to change section five of the act followed a series of headline-grabbing arrests and prosecutions ranging from an Oxford student asking a police officer "Do you realise your horse is gay?" which Thames Valley police described as homophobic and "offensive to people passing by", to a 16 year old holding up a placard that said "Scientology is a dangerous cult".
In December, the government suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords which voted 150 votes to 54 in favour of an amendment to remove the word "insulting". Campaigners had complained the clause had been used by police as a "catch-all" offence to arrest people on trivial matters. It will continue to be illegal to use insulting language when an victim is clearly identifiable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/14/insulting-section-5-public-order-act
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