No ban likely for inappropriate speech (Connecticut Post)(public speaking)

BRIDGEPORT — A proposed rule change that would prohibit residents from naming specific City Council members during the panel's public-speaking forums will likely be abandoned, the council's president said Monday. McCarthy's comments came as the Miscellaneous Matters Committee met Monday to consider the proposed amendment to the council's rules, which would also bar the use of racial slurs and vulgarity by speakers. The council has wanted to clean up speakers' language for a while now, not just in reaction to Young's comments, committee members said. McCarthy's proposal allows the council president or his representative to cut off speakers who "use language unbecoming, abusive, threatening, vulgar or unparliamentary" during the 30-minute public speaking session before council meetings. But Council member Richard Bonney, D-135, who is black, said the council can control its reaction to inappropriate speech like racial slurs. read more

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