Arresting You For The Way You Dress? OutRageous!!!

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

Bill would make wearing low-riding pants a crime

03:09 PM CDT on Thursday, May 6, 2004
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana residents who wear low-slung pants that expose underwear or certain body parts could be charged with a crime if lawmakers agree to a bill approved Thursday by a House panel and spurred by complaints about visible boxer shorts and sagging pants that sit nearly at men's knees.

"In our society we have a line of decency that should not be crossed, and that line starts around the waist area," said Rep. Derrick Shepherd, D-Marrero, sponsor of the bill.

Lawmakers turned aside concerns from Heather Hall, with the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who said the measure was rife with the opportunity for discrimination and selective enforcement from police.

Hall said the bill institutes a literal "fashion police" and a "really invasive violation of the fundamental right to public expression."

Despite those complaints and an assessment from the committee chairman that such a law would be unenforceable, the House Criminal Justice Committee approved the bill in a 4-1 vote, sending it to the full House for debate. Only Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-New Roads, voted against the measure.

Shepherd's bill would make it a crime to wear clothing in public that "intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals."

"We should be able to say what is moral, what is decent and what is acceptable behavior for our young people," said Glenn Green, a Westwego city councilman.

Violators of the proposed law would have to perform three eight-hour days of community service at a fire department and could have to pay a fine up to $175.

Rep. Danny Martiny, chairman of the committee, said he agreed with the spirit of the measure and said the trend of wearing sagging pants that expose underwear was offensive, but he said the law would be impossible to enforce. Martiny, R-Kenner, did not vote on the bill.

"I don't know that it's respectful to pay my respects at a funeral without my shirt on, but that's not illegal; that's just stupid," he said. "Government can't fix everything."

Opelousas Police Chief Larry Caillier said the clothing style promoted sexually deviant behavior and was offensive to women and children. He said Opelousas has a similar local ban.

Cazayoux said such behavior already was illegal under other laws, and Hall said she bristled at suggestions wearing a certain type of clothing was linked to criminal behavior and sexual deviancy.

The bill doesn't apply to clothes worn in a private residence, swimsuits, fashion shows or "clothing worn by a person in the practice of their legal profession or trade."

Voting in favor of the bill were: Reps. Beverly Bruce, D-Mansfield; Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport; Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte; and Mack "Bodi" White, R-Denham Springs.
(Copyright 2004 by The Asciated Press. All Rights Reserved.)






can this happen? i mean, wtf? can the goverment get involved? hello?
freedom of speech down the drain?

My response:

And, would you believe it - - there are still some States that would love to see slavery return, and abolish the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution!

Look, there are still some people in this country who haven't evolved past the stone age, and have taken office long before they have evolved.

And, speaking of Evolution, can you believe there are still a large minority of people who actually believe God created man, and that "evolution" has no place in our school system?

You'll find idiots all over the country, but does the issue of regulating "dress" really surprise you that it comes out of a backwards bayou State like Louisiana, where the trailer is King?

IAAL

can this happen? i mean, wtf? can the goverment get involved? hello?

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Ever since the time of Plato and Socrates....

This is an old argument. If you don't like the system change it, defy it or live with it.

You're either a dissident or a whimp.

so much for this being an actual law forum.
all this is pretty much is a place where people who have no common sense just want to jump right in and state thier opinion and how they feel about it rather than stating FACTS why this wouldnt workl and what laws prevent this ect...

Your problem, strugglin4420, is that this is not a law discussion forum. It is a law advice forum. You have come to this website for educational reasons, with your hypothetical posts and questions on how such a bill could be passed. There are people here with real problems.

Look it up yourself!!!

Run for office. Write your representative. Moan and complain but do nothing to change anything. Your choice. Of course, you can always move to another country, and allow "government" to make MANY decisions FOR you.

When I was a child, if your clothes didn't fit, it usually meant your parents couldn't afford to buy you clothes that fit or they were hand me downs. If you wore hand me downs, you were greatful for nice ones that fit. We also used to be taught manners and how to behave in public. Many children only learn by rote, some adults still only learn by rote, they cannot abstract, ever, others grow out of it. There are some times where common sense has greater weight than politically correct, BTW, I hate PC! When I was an intern, another intern was complaining about her placement.

She was about 23, waistlong curly hair, she wore "suits" which consisted of Shorts, slightly longer than "bakers shorts" and a suit vest which she wore without a blouse, pulling at the buttons because she was large busted, some bare midriff, no pantyhose or pantylines and with the jacket only worn upon entering and leaving. She wore this same uniform, which covered her, barely, to her placement which was in a residential facility for SED adolescent boys. What was her complaint? She was accosted by one of her clients and she was complaining that someone had suggested that her manner of seductive dress might have encouraged his behavior and that she had a "right" to dress as she pleased. Needless to say, she lacked common sense. I think Kenny Rogers said it very well, "If you're gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right. You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."
Sometimes, when people can't figure out the rules of society, we need to have some guideposts.

strugglin4420 said:

so much for this being an actual law forum.
all this is pretty much is a place where people who have no common sense just want to jump right in and state thier opinion and how they feel about it rather than stating FACTS why this wouldnt workl and what laws prevent this ect...

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The facts are that the law in question can be passed and will be passed if no one speaks out against it. If your reps think you are for it based on your silence then get out your high waisted pants and tuck in your drawers. So speak up now. You may also want to consider voting for candidates that reflect your values to avoid getting ticked off in the future.

By the way, most people who read this forum probably think that people should wear clothing that fits and keep their undies out of sight. They find your posting trivial at best. Hence the humor.

And what's with "strugglin4420"? It MIGHT make the cynical among us think that you're strugglin' for marijuana ... '420' ... tokin' time ...

And as for the clothes, some friends of mine found a nice way to stop it - they bought their boys pink, flowered underwear. Kinda embarassing to be saggin' your drawers and showin them pink flowers.

Carl

I think I found the reason for this. Note:

Shepherd's bill would make it a crime to wear clothing in public that "intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals."

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If Louisiana reesidents have a "genital cleft", I sure as hell don't want to see it either. Now, to the million dollar question - is there an loophole for those who go "fully shaved"?

strugglin4420 said:

so much for this being an actual law forum.
all this is pretty much is a place where people who have no common sense just want to jump right in and state thier opinion and how they feel about it rather than stating FACTS why this wouldnt workl and what laws prevent this ect...

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**A: instead of spending your time being an activist, may be if you learned how to spell...........

Louisiana residents who wear low-slung pants that expose underwear or certain body parts could be charged with a crime if lawmakers agree to a bill approved Thursday by a House panel and spurred by complaints about visible boxer shorts and sagging pants that sit nearly at men's knees.

And how is this different than the "plumber's crack" problem that's been going on for decades???? If State legislatures were serious about this kind of thing, they would have outlawed men's droopy-butt pants long ago!

And, speaking of Evolution, can you believe there are still a large minority of people who actually believe God created man, and that "evolution" has no place in our school system?......This comment was not called for, is this to say that all creationist's those of us that believe in Intelligent Design are backward hillbillie's?....You are of the ignorant sort, Obviously you don't read research data. Evolution takes more faith.

Cogar said:

Evolution takes more faith.

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Not to get off topic, but that is one stupid statement.

Cogar said:

And, speaking of Evolution, can you believe there are still a large minority of people who actually believe God created man, and that "evolution" has no place in our school system?......This comment was not called for, is this to say that all creationist's those of us that believe in Intelligent Design are backward hillbillie's?....You are of the ignorant sort, Obviously you don't read research data. Evolution takes more faith.

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And resurrecting a post that is EIGHT MONTHS OLD is just plain STUPID!