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June 18, 2007
The right to bare asses
Now here's another law that is certain to cause some controversy:
As one US town outlaws the public wearing of overly revealing leg wear, some believe that visible underpants should be left to the fashion police alone.
The crackdown on exposed boxer shorts and protruding bare bottoms in Delcambre, Louisiana, has brought a legal dimension to a view of public decency in the Western world usually confined to school regulations.
A similar bid for a state-wide ban was thrown out by Louisiana three years ago but a 2005 bill in Virginia managed to clear the lower house of America's oldest legislative body.
It was then killed off by the Virginia senate amid national ridicule including jokes about a "Boxers Rebellion".
Now, however, anyone upset by the underpants of strangers can be confident that at least in Delcambre, population 2,000, offenders face a fine of $500 (£254) and even six months in jail.
Apart from the obvious "don't they have anything better to do" argument (yes they probably do, and no, that hasn't stopped anybody, ever), I wonder if the first guy who gets nailed for this law shouldn't challenge its constitutionality. After all, wearing baggy pants is a form of speech, and there is no compelling government reason for not letting people wear baggy pants. I mean, this isn't exactly the Scopes Monkey Trial, but it'd be a great way for some feisty lawyer to stick it to the man.
entry no. 883
Posted by oz115 at June 18, 2007 11:20 PM