Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 4, 2000Volume 28, Number 19



"Freedom is not for the thought you love, it's
for the thought you hate," Larry Flynt told the students who came to hear him talk during a tea in Calhoun College.



Hustler publisher hails freedom of speech

"I've always felt since I was a kid that if something's not worth dying for, it's not worth a lot," said Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, when asked at a recent Calhoun College master's tea about his travails defending free speech.

While Flynt is probably best known as the magnate of the world's largest pornography empire, his litigious exploits on behalf of freedom of speech -- as depicted in the movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt" -- have also earned him a reputation as an ardent, and flamboyant, champion of First Amendment rights.

"I've been dragged through every court in the land," Flynt said of his struggles, adding almost as an afterthought that he had also been shot and jailed defending his beliefs.

Flynt came to Yale on Jan. 24 to talk about what he knows best, pornography and free speech, as part of a series of lectures on the latter topic being sponsored by Calhoun College. He also spoke at a meeting of the Political Union meeting that evening.

Speaking to the group packed wall-to-wall in the Calhoun common room, Flynt offered an impassioned plea to defend what he considers a vital part of democracy.

"We've had free speech for so long that it has lost its value. We take it for granted," he said. "Freedom doesn't die one book at a time or one movie at a time."

Raising his voice from its usual hoarse whisper to a roar befitting an angry Old Testament prophet, he exhorted students to take action against threats of government censorship. "It is your responsibility if you want to enjoy the fruits of democracy," he proclaimed.

Flynt's own battle on behalf of democracy has taken him to the Supreme Court, where he appealed a ruling in a libel case brought by right-wing evangelist Jerry Falwell, who took exception to a derogatory "spoof" ad in Flynt's publication. The court ruled unanimously in Flynt's favor. In addition to being a personal victory for Flynt, the ruling is interpreted by many as unequivocal judicial affirmation of the right to free expression, however objectionable the thought expressed.

When asked by one questioner whether he thought hate speech should enjoy the same liberties as pornography, Flynt replied emphatically, "I'm an absolutist when it comes to the First Amendment. Freedom is not for the thought you love, it's for the thought you hate." He did concede, however, that personal libel laws can and should function as a check against speech that is found to be harmful to individuals.

It was Flynt's career as a peddler of pornography, however, that drew the harshest questions from the assembled students. He defended charges that Hustler was misogynistic or menacing to women by citing "scientific studies" proving that it was not. He then exercised his right to unfettered speech by decrying "Gloria Steinem-style" feminism as "an excuse for ugly women to march," while at the same time professing wholehearted endorsement of equality for women in the workplace.

The victim of a gunshot attack that has left him in a wheelchair, Flynt offered a less-liberal interpretation of the Second Amendment, arguing from an historical perspective that the Founding Fathers were not thinking of modern assault weapons when they wrote the "right to bear arms" amendment. While making a bow to the use of weapons in some sports, Flynt pointed out that bazookas and AK-47s are not the weapons of choice for duck hunting. "As long as the gun lobby is as powerful as it is," he lamented, he sees no chances for major gun control efforts to succeed.

The students also quizzed Flynt about his high-profile activities during President Clinton's impeachment trials. Flynt told the audience that, when he saw that Geraldo Rivera was the only commentator in the media who was supporting Clinton while polls showed 70% of the American people wanted the President to stay in office, he decided he had to do something about the situation. What Flynt did was offer $1 million to anyone with information about the adulterous exploits of Republican congressmen.

"The first person we nailed was [Louisiana Representative Robert] Livingston," who had just been named to replace Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, recalled Flynt. When an audience member pointed out to Flynt that Livingston had referred to him as a "bottom feeder" in a New York Times interview, Flynt responded, "Yeah, but look what I found on the bottom."

Flynt concluded his talk by offering some career advice to the assembled students. "Work is only work if you don't enjoy it," he counseled, "so whatever you do, make sure you enjoy what you're doing."


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Mathematician Ronald Coifman wins National Medal of Science

DeVita helping to shape nation's future strategy in the war on cancer

Concert by Yale Band will recall Glenn Miller era

Hustler publisher hails freedom of speech

Journalist Jonathan Rauch decries special interest groups

Influential architecture journal celebrates 50th year

Research shows patients with mental illnesses may get inadequate care after a heart attack

Discovery holds promise for reversing brain, spinal injury

Interdisciplinary studies to be focus of conference

Event will explore challenges of city management

Colgate-Palmolive official to discuss global strategy


YALE CANCER CENTER NEWS


Technology center at Stetson Library will help to bridge 'digital divide'

Africana specialist Woodson is new curator of Yale collection

Researchers find new stars in Milky Way's 'halo'

New drug to treat ailment that causes blindness is tested

Park ranger chosen as Yale Younger Poet

Alvin M. Liberman, specialist in psychology of speech, dies

Yale students will 'Stand Up and Dance' to make a difference

Special program celebrates modernist artists of WWI 'blast'

Comedy and characterizations combine in 'To the Top Top Top!' one-woman show

New SOM program examines changing economic landscape

White House recalls the legacy of C. Vann Woodward

Concerts raise funds to aid victims of Taiwan earthquake

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