A South Florida city recently overturned its 13-year ban on saggy pants that reveal a person’s underwear.
“The Opa-locka City Commission voted Wednesday in a 4-1 vote to repeal both the original 2007 legislation and a 2013 ordinance that said women, not just men, could receive civil citations for wearing pants that exposed their undergarments,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
However, Wednesday’s vote was a first reading of the repeal which means it will need approval a second time at a later commission meeting before it becomes official.
“Around the city, which is northeast of Miami, signs still warn folks of the ordinance. They showing [sic] an image of two young men wearing pants below their waists and featuring the words: ‘No ifs, ands or butts … It’s the city law!'” the AP report said.
During the commission’s virtual meeting Wednesday, Vice Mayor Chris Davis said he sponsored the repeal due to a lack of enforcement data and because the city was moving in a different direction in regard to policing, according to KCTV.
“You can’t pass a law to target any segment of a population. It has to be equitable,” Davis commented, adding that the community was predominantly African American and Hispanic.
“When you pass laws like that, they can seem predatory if not carefully implemented,” he explained.
According to Local 10, the city’s current code of ordinances stated in part:
(a) It shall be unlawful for an individual (male or female) to wear saggy pants or slacks apparel wherein underwear or under garments are exposed in city buildings and parks. Females, as well, shall also be banned from wearing saggy shirt or blouse apparel. Neither males nor females shall wear saggy apparel such as to constitute indecent exposure.
The ban also extended to “all places of businesses within the city. All merchants and shopkeepers are to enforce the terms set forth in subsection (a),” the report concluded.
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