Is hate speech considered fighting words?

Answer 1

Depending on the circumstances of the speech being referred to it COULD be considered as such. Use caution, however, what you may think of as 'hate speech' might not rise to the level of the court's interpretation.

Hate speech is communication that carries no meaning other than to express hatred for some group, especially in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence against them. It is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and the like. Hate speech can be any form of expression regarded as offensive to a particular racial, ethnic and religious group and other discrete minorities or to women.

Fighting words are words intentionally directed toward another person which are so venomous and full of malice as to cause the hearer to suffer emotional distress or incite him/her to immediately retaliate physically. Fighting words, in and of themselves, are not an excuse or defense for a retaliatory assault and battery. However, if they are so threatening as to cause apprehension, they can form the basis for a lawsuit for assault, even though the words alone don't constitute an assault.

The utterance of fighting words is not covered by the free speech protections of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The words are often evaluated not only by the words themselves, but the context or situation in which they are spoken. Courts generally impose a requirement that the speaker's intention was to cause a breach of the peace or incite the hearer to violence.