You can do anything you like in public so long as you don't frighten the horses.
Posted on 07/23/2008 1:54:04 AM PDT by goldstategop
In a desolate public park in Columbus, Ohio, a man responded to the advances of a topless woman. She asked him to "show me yours." When he did, police officers arrested him. Columbus law says her being topless is OK; exposing his genitalia is not.
Why did cops hide in the shadows to arrest a man no one but they could see?
On last week's "20/20", Dr. Marty Klein pointed out that the police weren't protecting children.
"There were no children anywhere in sight. In fact, there were no adults anywhere in sight."
Klein says it's part of "America's War on Sex."
"American society attempts to restrict what adults can do, what adults can see ... more than any other industrial country."
Ken Giles was jogging in a park in Johnson City, Tenn., when, as he put it, "nature called." He went off the trail to go take care of business. Then an undercover agent "put the badge in my face and told me that I was under arrest. I just thought I was in trouble for urinating in public."
It was much more humiliating than that. The park was the site of a police crackdown on gay men using the park for sex. But the police went beyond arrests. Before anyone was convicted, they posted the names, addresses and photos of the men.
Giles's wife saw his picture on the news. Then his employer fired him. "When I lost my job ... my wife was so upset that she had a ... a major heart attack."
Another man named by the police killed himself.
Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says he has no sympathy for such sex offenders. "There's not a presumption of confidentiality when you're arrested and charged," he told me.
It's intrusive enough when police arrest someone in a public place, but worse when the police turn their sights indoors, to places where people choose to be exposed to sex.
Chippendales, the male burlesque show, has toured the country for years. Their show is not as racy as you might think. The men dance, show off their bodies and flirt with some women in the audience. There's no nudity.
Chippendales never had a problem with authorities -- until it came to Lubbock, Texas. Ten minutes before their show, the police told the dancers, "Don't ever simulate a sex act."
The dancers did their usual show and then ventured out into the crowd. The police then shut down the show and took the dancers to jail.
The crowd was angry. "City council sucks!" the audience shouted.
Mayor David Miller told me, "In the judgment of our police officers that night, they violated one portion or more of [the city's] ordinance."
What were the police protecting willing adult customers from?
"From these types of activities spilling over into their neighborhood."
Within a week of the Chippendales arrest, three murders occurred in Lubbock. Wouldn't those police officers have been better used elsewhere?
Some states have laws that creep right into the bedroom. In Alabama, legislators banned the sale of sex toys. That upset Dave Smith, whose wife owns Pleasures, "Your One Stop Romance Shop."
"In the state of Alabama I can buy a gun. I can carry it in my pocket. ... But if I buy this [sex toy], someone could get arrested!" Smith said.
The ACLU helped challenge the law. But an appeals court ruled that the politicians have a "legitimate legislative interest in discouraging prurient interests in autonomous sex" -- in other words, masturbation -- because that may be "detrimental to the health and morality of the State."
Oddly, Pleasures is still in business because the law makes an exception if a sex toy is sold for a medical purpose. To buy a vibrator, customers need only answer yes to a questionnaire asking things like, "Have difficulty having an orgasm?"
I asked the Family Research Council's Sprigg whom the government protects when it closes down sex shops.
"The government is protecting actually the people who patronize those shops because I don't think it's in their interest to use pornography and sex toys."
Give me a break.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Winston had been married once, to a woman named Katherine. It had been a party approved marriage but he had soon found life with her impossible. The fact that she did not have a single original thought and simply functioned as a party mouthpiece was bad enough. But what had been truly unbearable was the sex. Winston would not have minded remaining celibate, but Katherine insisted they go through the process at fixed intervals to “fulfill their duty to the Party” by producing a child. And each time, it was clear to Winston that she hated the act and was merely submitting passively. When no children appeared they parted with Party approval and mutual relief. -- 1984 Part 1, Chapter 6
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
This article underlines the clash between two wings of conservatism: the libertarian and the social conservative.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I agree with you, but not all socons hold similar view as you do. The Family Research Council —a main player in socon movement— seems to be one of those who don’t.
Is it any wonder they're attracted to this area....? Some jokes just write themselves.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yea right. Turned on a tv lately? America is the almost the top sex crazed society in the industrialized world save for a few sex hovels in Europe. It's all there is to live for one would think judging from outward appearances.
Maybe, but to believe there would be an end to murders if that's all the police covered is beyond silly.
...a man responded to the advances of a topless woman.
...
The park was the site of a police crackdown on gay men using the park for sex.
That had to one very dedicated lady cop.
Using a topless woman as bait to catch gay men? Does “gay” again mean “happy” and not “homosexual”?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
No, but it can enforce the standards set by the community. At some point, someone decided that public urination and sex-toy shops operating openly did not meet those standards. Maybe it was the City Council, maybe it was a county ballot issue, maybe it was fifty years ago. However and whenever they came about, those legal standards are currently the law of the land,even if the "land" is just the township.
Maybe the community does feel that standards have changed. Instead of asking that the existing legal standards not be enforced, Joe Citizen should get out there and work to change the law. If enough of the community agrees that standards have changed, they'll vote Joe's way. If not, maybe Joe should vote with his feet and move to a community that has standards he can live with more easily.
“Johnson City, Tenn.......The park was the site of a police crackdown on gay men using the park for sex.”
“Is it any wonder they’re attracted to this area....? Some jokes just write themselves.”
...you “beat me” to it.
You can do anything you like in public so long as you don't frighten the horses.
Now there's an understatement lol.
I wonder if those sanctimonious jerks ever heard of "entrapment?" It's supposed to be a no no in law.
HUH?
Speak for yourself, friend.
From a (been married twice--but now single) Seasoned Citizen and a fairly good Christian/Catholic.
Turn on the TV in Europe or Japan, and you will see that they are even more racy in what they show. I don’t know that I agree with the level that they reach there, but I also feel that we have too much body shame here in the States, and that de-mystifying a few things (not everything) would help people not get so worked up over natural things.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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