Atlanta considers banning baggy pants

[kfrost06]

ATLANTA - Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

"This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

Martin, who is black, said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

"The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

Makeda Johnson, an Atlanta mother of a 14-year-old girl, said she is glad Martin introduced the proposal. She does not want to see a law against clothing, but said she thinks teenagers are sending a message with a way of dressing that is based in jailhouse behavior.

Atlanta would not be the first city to take on sagging pants.

Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

[kfrost06]

I think the style of baggy pants is obsured but not obsence. Beware of a government that starts to tell you how to dress!

[jon77]

Good one!....That law would not 'apply' to me because I wear my clothes the way that they should be worn. And, I do agree with the law in the sense of ridding our malls, restraunts, and other public places of the........................


You finish the rest of that.......... ...................... I'm still safe!

[m8intl]

"I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

Wow, what a slippery slope argument.

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap

Fanaticism?

[m8intl]

Beware of a government that starts to tell you how to dress!

Beware of government that forces its religious ideology on society. Oh shit, wait, it's too late for that.

[kfrost06]

Beware of government that forces its religious ideology on society. Oh shit, wait, it's too late for that.

Yes it is too late, murder, rape, theft and assualt are all illegal, those damn ten commandments! ruining our freedoms!

[m8intl]

Yes it is too late, murder, rape, theft and assualt are all illegal, those damn ten commandments! ruining our freedoms!

Not exactly what I was referring to, but it's good to know you have a sense of humor.

[godkilla]

it would be awesome not to have wanna gangsta kids walking around with there pants so low you can see there underwear. but on the other hand it would suck losing hot chics in low cut pants with there ass hangin out.

[jon77]

it would be awesome not to have wanna gangsta kids walking around with there pants so low you can see there underwear. but on the other hand it would suck losing hot chics in low cut pants with there ass hangin out.

Nice way of explaining it. (I'm taking notes) I would have been gone if I would have finished. On the other hand, yeah I like seeing women with low cuts and tattoos on the lower back.

[gixxerboy1]

it would be awesome not to have wanna gangsta kids walking around with there pants so low you can see there underwear. but on the other hand it would suck losing hot chics in low cut pants with there ass hangin out.

The girls i know just wouldn't wear a thong then if they are going to get a ticket for seeing a strap. also if bra strap is visible? ridiculous

[jon77]

I think we all know that women had little to do with why this law was made.....

[m8intl]

I like seeing women with low cuts and tattoos on the lower back.

Tattoos on the small of a woman's back are going to be the mullets of our generation, wait and see.

[TesticularFortitude]

stupid law!
dress is a reflection of a society - not the other way around.

[jon77]

We wouldn't even be having this conversation if some idiot hadn't invented clothes. I would be perfectly comfortable walking down the street free-swinging...

[DSM4Life]

This will never pass and for the people that do vote for this shame on them. Its just another baby step in letting to gov move in.