Two UK judges have included the "right to offend" under freedom of speech – Gay Times Magazine

This is a complex area of law

Its been reported that Justice Warby and Lord Justice Bean have ruled that the right to offend is under freedom of speech in the Scottow and Hayden Court of Appeal case.

The case in question followed cis-gendered woman Katherine Scottow and transgender woman Stefanie Hayden.

Scottow was arrested in 2019 for sending hate speech to Hayden, by misgendering her, calling her a racist and a pig in the wing online.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service stated: The Court of Appeals judgement concluded there was not enough evidence to convict the defendant for persistently making use of public communications network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety, determining that the timing and level of communication exchanged online did not constitute a criminal offence.

This is a complex area of law and we will carefully consider the judgement, specifically in relation to comments made online and associated issues of free speech.

Speaking on their decision Lord Justice Bean and Justice Warby stated: Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.

They continued: Those wishing to express their own views could be silenced by, or threatened with, proceedings for harassment based on subjective claims by individuals that felt offended or insulted.

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Two UK judges have included the "right to offend" under freedom of speech - Gay Times Magazine

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