Privates ought to remain private, says a Louisiana lawmaker who wants to ban people from wearing pajama pants in public.
Michael WilliamsCaddo, Parish District 3 Commissioner near Shreveport, is pushing for an ordinance that would prohibit residents from appearing in public places in pajama pants, defined as “a garment sold in the sleepwear section of department stores.”
Williams told the Shreveport Times he was moved to push for an ordinance after an incident at a local Walmart in which he and others were offended by a customer clad in pajamas.
"I saw a group of young men wearing pajama pants and house shoes," he said, according to the Times. "At the part where there should have been underwear," his private parts were showing through the fabric. He told Williams the Times that “pajamas are designed to be worn in the bedroom at night."
“If you can't (wear pajamas) at the boardwalk or courthouse, why are you going to do it in a restaurant or in public? Today it's pajamas," Williams said. "Tomorrow it's underwear. Where does it stop?"
Williams’ proposal may have a hard time passing legal muster.
Marjorie R. Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, last week sent Williams a letter saying clothing is a form of expression protected by the Constitution, The Advertiser reported.
“To ban the wearing of pajamas, like any other form of attire,” Esman wrote, “would violate a liberty interest guaranteed under the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. … The government must demonstrate a rational basis for its ban – and Caddo Parish’s has no legitimate rational basis for regulating the attire of its residents."
Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator said such a ban would be "very difficult to enforce the way it's described.”
Shreveport, which is in Caddo Parish, already has a ban on saggy pants.
TXT 24
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