Louisiana May Ban Low-Slung Pants

BATON ROUGE, La. - People who wear low-slung pants that expose skin
or "intimate clothing" would face a fine of up to $500 and possible jail
time under a bill filed by a Jefferson Parish lawmaker.

State Rep. Derrick Shepherd said he filed the bill because he was tired of
catching glimpses of boxer shorts and G-strings over the lowered belt lines
of young adults.

The bill would punish anyone caught wearing low-riding pants with a fine of
as much as $500 or as many as six months in jail, or both.

"I'm sick of seeing it," said Shepherd, a first-term legislator. "The
community's outraged. And if parents can't do their job, if parents can't
regulate what their children wear, then there should be a law."

The bill would be tacked onto the state's obscenity law, which restricts
sexual activity in public places and the sale of sexually explicit items.

Joe Cook, head of the American Civil Liberties Union's Louisiana chapter,
said the bill probably does not meet the U.S. Supreme Court's standard for
the prohibition of obscene behavior under the First Amendment.

"What about a woman who is wearing a bathing suit under her garment or she
has something like a sarong wrapped around her and it's below her waist,"
he said. "I can think of a lot of workers, plumbers, who are working and
expose their buttocks ..."

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