A bill to criminalize the B-word — the term for a female dog that is commonly used to slander women — is up for a hearing Tuesday on Beacon Hill in what one critic calls “patently unconstitutional” and the latest political correctness push from the “word police.”
The legislation submitted by state Rep. Daniel Hunt, titled “An Act regarding the use of offensive words,” states: “A person who uses the word ‘bitch’ directed at another person to accost, annoy, degrade or demean the other person shall be considered to be a disorderly person.” Penalties for a disorderly conduct conviction include a $150 fine for a first offense and $200 or 6 months in prison for subsequent offenses.
“There’s a certain category of legislation that’s patently unconstitutional. This is among them,” Cambridge civil-rights attorney Harvey Silverglate said. “This is just the latest futile effort but the word police to control what other people say and indirectly control what they think.”
Hunt (D-Dorchester) said he filed the bill upon request from a constituent, which will go before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary for a hearing Tuesday.
“Any time a constituent approaches me with something that is of concern to them, I follow through with it,” Hunt told the Herald. “In this instance, someone asked me to file a bill that they deemed was important and I thought it was a good exercise to let that bill go through the process.”
Hunt did not identify the constituent.
Silverglate argued that the legislation would not pass constitutional muster.
“If it’s challenged in court, it will take minutes for a judge to see through it,” Silverglate said. “It doesn’t have a prayer of surviving, so why should the Legislature even burden us — the citizens, the press and the courts — why would they burden us with this nonsense? Surely they must have more important things to do.”
Hunt countered that if the bill violates the First Amendment, it’s still important to have conversations about what the existing law is.
“This might also illuminate the exhaustive legislative process for people that might not normally be engaged,” Hunt added.
Silverglate noted that the issue reflects a larger national phenomenon in which he said words are “suddenly being seen as weapons,” rather than “simply conveyers of information.”
“That doesn’t make it less silly,” Silverglate added. “It’s silly. It’s just nonsense.”
A spokeswoman for the House Chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Rep. Claire Cronin, said she, “does not comment on bills before they have had a hearing and have gone through the committee process.” Senate Chair Jamie Eldridge did not respond to a request for comment.
