By Erin Gibson
StaffReporter
Molly Ivins, political commentator, urged
civil libertarians Friday night to continue their
fight for freedom but to remember to have fun
doing it.
“I try to cheer y’all up,” she said in a power
ful southern drawl to 300 Nebraskans at a din
ner sponsored by the Nebraska American Civil
Liberties Union.
Civil libertarians are the world’s greatest
people, Ivins said, but they are always severe in
attitude, worried about rights being oppressed.
“You need to be in goal cheer,” she said. “It
could be worse. You could be trying to do this
in Texas.”
Ivins currently writes a column for Texas’
Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Roars oi laughter swelled from the banquet
hall as Ivins told stories of battles fought for
civil liberties against “quirky” Texas politicians.
When the state Legislature met years ago to
reform the state penal code, one conservative
legislator moved to reinstate the law against ho
mosexual sodomy, she said.
“All the guys in the House were afraid that
everybody would think they were queer if they
didn’t vote for this, so they did,” die said.
Later, the legislator moved to reinstate the
law against heterosexual sodomy so no one
could accuse him of being a “pervert,” she said.
After both sodomy laws had passed the Texas
House, Ivins said, the legislator and another pro
ponent of the laws were slapping each other’s
hands and butts, celebrating their victory.
A friend who watched the men celebrate told
Ivans, “Somebody ought to tell them it is now
illegal for a prick to touch an asshole in this
state.”
No matter what Ivins thinks of someone, she
said, it was her responsibility as a civil libertar
ian to stand up for their rights.
“We civil libertarians, we’re always having
to do things we don’t like,” she said.
For example, when the Ku Klux Klan de
cided to hold a rally in Austin, Texas, Ivins said
she supported their right to protest.
“Civil libertarians defend the rights of blue
bellied nincompoops to spew whatever nonsense
they want to,” she said.
m . ;.
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
ANDREA COLLINS, (left) assistant director of the ACLU of Nebraska, talks to Molly Ivins (right) as Ivins takes a short break from
signing autographs Friday night at anACLU banquet at the Comhusker Hotel. Ivins was the banquet’s keynote speaker and entertained
guests with humorous stories of Tbxas politics.
When the KKK started a march down Aus
tin streets, more than 1,000 Austin residents
lined the street and mooned them as they
marched.
“It was kind of like a wave,” she said.
Ivins told the story as proof that, while pro
tecting the rights of all people, “a little exercise
of humor never hurts,” she said.
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Ivins told another story about two boys who
hurt themselves trying to escape a chicken snake
in a hen house.
When their mother told them that a little
chicken snake wouldn’t hurt them, one boy re
plied, “Yes ma’am, but there are some things
that’ll scare you so bad you’ll hurt yourself.”
Ivins said this exemplified a problem in
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America today. Americans get scared of crime
and enact legislation that oppresses their own
rights, she said.
“We think we can save ourselves by making
ourselves less free,” Ivins said. “It doesn’t make
any sense at all, but it is a consistent theme in
America.”
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