Nall Adds Humor to Sex Toy Debate

Tuscaloosa News
Editorials
Published Friday, November 16, 2007

Nall adds humor to sex toy debate
Loretta Nall, the clown princess of Alabama politics, is at it again.

Nall campaigned for governor in 2006 on the Libertarian ticket. When a political columnist drew attention to her cleavage, she didn't like it at first. But she turned the publicity to her advantage, raising campaign funds by selling T-shirts with her photo and the slogan, "More of these boobs!! And less of these boobs." Beneath the slogan were pictures of Bob Riley, Lucy Baxley and other candidates.

Now the free-spirited Nall is taking on Alabama's straitlaced attorney general, Troy King.

King is considering asking the Legislature to amend the state's anti-obscenity law. A Jefferson County judge ruled this month that part of the law was too vague to force closure of a sex toys store in Hoover.

In 1998, the Legislature passed a law banning the sale of sex toys in Alabama. Lower courts found it unconstitutional in 1999 and 2002, saying Alabama did not prove a legitimate interest in regulating sale of sex toys to adults. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law in 2004, claiming there is no constitutional right to sexual privacy.

The appeals justices did note that Alabama could repeal the ban if residents decide "a prohibition on sex toys is misguided, or ineffective, or just plain silly."

It is all of those things.

"It's absolutely outrageous an attorney general would squander our tax dollars and barge into our bedrooms and tell us what we can and cannot do in Alabama," Nall says. "We have real crime in Alabama."

So she has organized a "Sex Toys for Troy King" drive, in which she encourages people to mail the devices to the AG's office in Montgomery.

Earlier this week, she sent King an inflatable pig.

We aren't delusional enough to believe that her drive will have any impact on changing the law. But it does point out its absurdities in a humorous way. It's good to have someone like Nall to enliven Alabama's buttoned-down political scene.
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Thanks to Ben Windham and the T-Town News for this editorial.