Any person who, while in a public place, intentionally wears and displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person's intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner, shall be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $50. [Note: "intimate parts" is defined elsewhere as "the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, or buttocks of any person."]
Oh, my! Don't Virginia legislators have more important things to worry about? And it's even worse when you compare what the bill is intended to "correct" with the actual language.
The problem? Teenagers wearing trousers low on their hips while their underwear sticks out the top. This is a problem? Yes, it looks silly, but I think lots of things look silly. And fortunately, there aren't any photos floating around of some of the stupid-looking things I wore as a teenager back in the early 70s.
And this is a problem so serious that it demands that legislators must waste spend their time considering and voting on the bill, and if it passes both the General Assembly and the Senate, that the Governor must consider whether to sign or veto the bill? And if he signs it, law enforcement officers must try to enforce the law? And Commonwealth Attorneys would have to prosecute it?
As you may have guessed, I have my doubts that the "problem" is so severe as to require all this effort by all these people.
And then look at the actual text of the bill: "...in a lewd or indecent manner." Ignoring the difficulty of proving that this fashion scourge is, in any particular instance, "lewd or indecent," even without performing any research I feel comfortable in stating that the Commonwealth of Virginia already has laws in place which prohibit lewd or indecent conduct.
While there are undoubtedly more asinine bills in existence than this one, I'm not personally familiar with them. Delegate Algie T. Howell, Jr., why are you wasting my money, your time, and Virginia's reputation with a silly, frivolous bill such as this?
And to the rest of the members of the General Assembly who voted for this bill: What were you thinking?
And to the State Senate: put this idiotic bill where it belongs: in the trashcan.
Update:Dr Joyner is glad that our legislators have worked through all the important stuff and are only left with trivialities such as how teenagers dress.
