"I support Free Speech, but I do not consider _______ Free Speech."

[moriah]

79. Well, the statute is meant to apply to those who are harassing individuals, not public speech.

In other words, if I was being followed down the street by a guy who shouted out "s***" or "b****", and continued to do it, I'd call 911, and report them for harassment. (Using the obscenity as well as the repeated behavior.)

Or if a guy was following another guy down the street saying "You wimp, l***-w****ed sack of excrement, come back here and fight me like a man!" and continued to follow the person and say such things, I think they would be entitled to press harassment charges as well (used "excrement" instead of an obscenity because... well, I'm not all that practiced at insults, so most of the ones I know would involve obscenities, but giving the alleged harasser the benefit of the doubt that they could have figured out another insult that would not be considered obscene).

Far better than reacting to either with violence, which is why the law is written -- if you allow that kind of behavior, eventually, someone will not just walk away, and it will cause a disturbance of the peace.