Los Angeles, CA: City Council Creates 'Offensive Words Ban'

The First Amendment does not permit the government to decide which words are acceptable for public discourse. That is particularly true during public comment periods at city council meetings, which are meant to give everyday Americans the opportunity to speak freely about public issues to those who govern their community. Yet in July 2025, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a rule that prohibits members of the public from saying the words “cunt,” “nigger,” or any “variation” of either word during public comment, regardless of the context in which they are used or whether the speaker disrupts the meeting, and subjects the speaker to removal from the meeting following a single warning. And just a few months later, the Council amended another rule to automatically bar anyone removed from a meeting from attending future Council and committee meetings for up to six business days depending on their recent removal history. Together, these two rules mean a speaker who merely repeats a banned word after receiving a warning may be removed from a meeting and then automatically excluded from future meetings.

Concerned that the Council’s word ban violates the First Amendment, Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger criticized the Council and the rule during public comment at an October 2025 meeting, remarking that the Council was “afraid of the word ‘cunt,’” and adding, “Kind of insane how you’re more offended by bad words than police brutalizing citizens and journalists in the streets.” Although she stayed within her allotted time, addressed a matter squarely within the Council’s jurisdiction, and did not disrupt the meeting, the presiding officer warned that any future use of a banned word would result in her removal. When Segarra-Bohlinger returned in December 2025 and  again used the word "cunt" while criticizing the Council and its word ban, the council president paused her remarks to issue the required warning and after she repeated the word, expelled her from the meeting and barred her from attending any Council or committee meetings for the rest of the day.

On July 23, 2026, FIRE and the First Amendment Coalition sent a letter to the City Council demanding it repeal both the word ban and the future-meeting ban and unconditionally commit to not remove or threaten to remove speakers based on their language absent actual disruption of the meeting. If the Council refuses, FIRE and the First Amendment Coalition will file suit on Segarra-Bohlinger’s behalf to vindicate her rights—and the rights of all Angelenos to speak freely at City Council meetings. After all, as the Supreme Court said more than a half century ago ago in striking down a conviction of a man who wore a “Fuck the Draft” jacket in a Los Angeles County courthouse, “one man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric,” and “words are often chosen as much for their emotive as their cognitive force.”