# Student arrested for saying "fuck" (in the sexual sense) at Ann Coulter speech **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 7, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800 "2005-05-07T06:42:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/61 "2005-05-08T02:59:54Z")
I’ve partially changed my mind and appologize for my knee-jerk post above. If the kid was yelling throughout the event and thereby being disruptive, then I think he should have been removed. (And arrested if he refused.) However, I do not think that anyone, anywhere, should ever be arrested or even threatened with arrest, or fined or in any way legally punished, for saying words that some people think are naughty. Or making hand gestures that some people find obscene. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/62 "2005-05-08T03:25:45Z")
Courtesy of Doper **Hemlock** ’s [blog/diary](http://www.geocities.com/hkhemlock/rooster/diary-30apr05.html), trenchant political commentary by someone who [fucked Ann Coulter in the ass, hard](http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/) and lived to tell the tale (tail?). ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/63 "2005-05-08T03:38:31Z")
> [@Dr. Kenneth Noisewater](#): > > The U.S. Constitution is not the limit of the law. Obligation to speed limits isn’t in there either, I checked. (Miller standard for obscenity not cited). This isn’t about obscenity though. The word ‘fuck’ has been ruled as not obscene in the most on point case I can think of. In _Cohen v California_, 403 U.S. 15 (1971), the Court reverse the conviction of a man for wearing a jacket with ‘Fuck the Draft’ on the back into an LA courthouse. This isn’t to say the questioner here cannot be constitutionally arrested (I think they would have to try and make it stick under the _Chaplinsky_ fighting words doctrine), but obscenity doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/64 "2005-05-08T04:03:47Z")
Obscenity certainly fits, as the colloquial “fuck” and the literal “fuck” aren’t the same fucking thing. If you were to say you got fucked by a traffic cop, I wouldn’t assume you got out of your ticket in a creative way, now would I? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/65 "2005-05-08T04:45:13Z")
What’s to stop him from giving you the ticket anyway? That he doesn’t want to spoil the rest of your day? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/66 "2005-05-08T12:49:24Z")
Occasionally I’m reminded that there are still “obscenity” laws on the books – laws written, allegedly, by adults. It always baffles me. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/67 "2005-05-08T15:18:15Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > Obscenity certainly fits, as the colloquial “fuck” and the literal “fuck” aren’t the same fucking thing. > > If you were to say you got fucked by a traffic cop, I wouldn’t assume you got out of your ticket in a creative way, now would I? You know, I just went back to fully re-read _Cohen_, and I think the differential you are drawing is valid. I would still say the case would make it incredibly difficult to get an obscenity prosecution to stick on this (and the arrest was based on disorderly conduct not obscenity) but that comes from dicta in the case, not the holding. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/68 "2005-05-08T15:27:22Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > Obscenity certainly fits, as the colloquial “fuck” and the literal “fuck” aren’t the same fucking thing. > > If you were to say you got fucked by a traffic cop, I wouldn’t assume you got out of your ticket in a creative way, now would I? The context doesn’t really matter any more. The sexual use of “fuck” is hardly prosecuted as obscenity anymore. Have you ever seen _Def Comedy jam_? There isn’t even an allegation of obscenity in this case, just disorderly conduct. Like I said before, Ms. Coulter could have talked about ass-fucking all she wanted and not been arrested. This isn’t 1952 anymore. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/69 "2005-05-08T15:32:11Z")
While I agree that an arrest was probably overkill, I think the kid was being a jerk. Screaming profanity from the very beginning? Shouting over other people doesn’t support free speech. As much as I despite Ann Coulter’s opinions on just about everything, she should have the right to speak. If he wanted to phrase it as a legitimate question, he easily could have. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/70 "2005-05-08T15:40:07Z")
OK, I’m busted for hyperbole. Ann Coulter isn’t a “tyrant”, she’s just a windbag who’s enjoying her 15 minutes with a microphone. I think that equating disagreeing with the president with treason and suggesting those who express such disagreement be shot is advocating tyranny. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/71 "2005-05-08T16:02:47Z")
> [@police report](#): > > Raj, who sat in the back row of the auditorium, approached the microphone and stated “so…what do you think about conservative men that all they do with there [sic] wives is fuck them in the ass?” How can you have a “[sic]” with a homophone that wasn’t written? Police reports: ya gotta love 'em! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/72 "2005-05-08T16:38:19Z")
> [@etmiller](#): > > How can you have a “[sic]” with a homophone that wasn’t written? > > Police reports: ya gotta love 'em! Sorry, i should have been clearer. The [sic] was mine. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/73 "2005-05-08T19:25:38Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > I’m surprised that harpy showed up somewhere named after a democrat. I’m surprised she didn’t try to set the building on fire and blame the mean-ol’ Democrats for driving her to do it by filibustering Bush’s judicial nominations. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/74 "2005-05-08T20:06:39Z")
> [@villa](#): > > (Miller standard for obscenity not cited). They’re pretty fuckin’ lax, really. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/75 "2005-05-09T15:16:01Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Sorry, i should have been clearer. > > The [sic] was mine. So the there was theirs. Not his. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/76 "2005-05-09T15:41:43Z")
Just to clarify, its isn’t an obscenity law… Its a “fighting words” law. [http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/op46white/mw-001.htm](http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/op46white/mw-001.htm) Heres the texas AG opinion on the constitutionality of it… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800/77 "2005-05-09T16:51:45Z")
> [@etmiller](#): > > So the there was theirs. Not his. Correct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/student-arrested-for-saying-fuck-in-the-sexual-sense-at-ann-coulter-speech/302800.md?page=3)