Kyllo: Taking the 5th on the 4th
Ray Dillinger
bear at sonic.net
Tue Jul 3 21:59:42 PDT 2001
On Tue, 3 Jul 2001, Jim Choate wrote:
>On Tue, 3 Jul 2001, Tim May wrote:
>
>> The whole issue of "going masked" is a murky one, legally.
>
>No, it isn't. While police certainly need 'probably cause' to institute a
>search there are NO (zero, nadah, nil, nul, none) requirements on citizens
>to wear any particular part or type of clothing (or not wear it even). Any
>such law would violate the 1st.
So I can go out in public nude, and not expect to be arrested?
Wrong.
While, in absolute terms, the right to free expression ought to
include the right to nudity, in practice it does not. As a male,
I am *required*, by the state, to wear something that covers up
the dangly bits when I go out in public.
The state also refuses to license establishments to serve food
unless those establishments have a clear policy refusing admittance
to barefoot people. Does the state require me to wear shoes,
or is it their puppets the shopkeepers who do so? Does it matter?
NO.
Shoes are also required for all riders of state-sponsored public
transit.
I support the right of antisocial people to smear themselves with
green jello and run naked with scissors around the block flapping
their arms and shouting "splee three frooks!" if they want to, but
the state does not agree.
There are also types of clothing that I am forbidden by the state
to wear; I had a friend in Kansas City who cross-dressed once and
got busted for -- I kid you not -- "Intent to defraud." Since he
was wearing a full beard at the time, I don't know anyone who'd
have fallen for his supposed fraud, but let us just say that if
you are a man dressed in women's clothing, the law enforcement
agencies of a lot of places will go out of their way to find a law
to charge you with. Unconstitutional? Sure. Standard Practice?
Absolutely.
Don't go spouting off that these laws *don't* exist just because
they *ought* not exist. Someone who doesn't know you may actually
believe you and wind up in jail.
Bear
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