Montana: The Butt of Jokes

Or is it derriere? 

Gotta get national notice, somehow, some way.

Here, courtesy of the Missoulian is the bare evidence.

This started last August with the "Dare to be Naked" bicycle ride in downtown Missoula, when dozens of bicyclists traversed the main drag in various stages of undress, to protest oil no less. 

Seeing that it is not unlawful to be naked as a jaybird in public in Montana, state Representative David "Doc" Moore of Missoula, responded to constituent complaints by introducing House Bill 365, to wit:

Section 1. Section 45-5-504, MCA, is amended to read: 13 "45-5-504. Indecent exposure.

 (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a person commits the offense of indecent exposure if the person knowingly or purposely 

 (a) exposes the person's genitals, pubic hair, or anus or exposes the areola or nipple of the person's breast with anything less than a fully opaque covering while in a public place or visible from a public place without taking reasonable precautions to prevent exposure, and disregards whether a reasonable person would be 21 offended or alarmed by the act; or  

(b) exposes any device, costume, or covering that gives the appearance of or simulates the genitals, pubic hair, anus region, or pubic hair region or exposes any device worn as a cover over the nipple or areola of the female breast that simulates and gives the realistic appearance of a nipple or areola while in a public place r visible from a public place without taking reasonable precautions to prevent exposure, and disregards whether a reasonable person would be offended or alarmed by the act. 

(2) Indecent exposure does not include an act of breastfeeding by a mother

To drive home his argument in support of the legislation Representative More said, "Yoga pants should be illegal in public anyway." That lit up the internet. The culture wars were on.

Mother Jones headlined "Montana GOP Legislator Wants to Ban Yoga Pants."

The Washington Post compared the proposed nudity ban to Sharia law.

Huffington Post says Rep. Moore is "waging a war against yoga pants."

MSNBC says the proposed law "seems like something out of another decade — or perhaps even another century."

Even the Onion chimed in.

I'll register my dissent as well. Yoga pants cover would have afforded the August bike riders a considerable appearance improvment.

You can take in the entire ridership here. 

Alas the ban is not to be.

Amid giggles, House kills Missoula legislator's ban on 'provocative' clothes

HELENA – A Montana legislative panel has moved to kill a bill that would tighten the state's indecent exposure law and consequently ban some provocative clothing.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to table House Bill 365 on Wednesday. Missoula Republican Rep. David "Doc" Moore introduced it Tuesday.

The proposal would have expanded the definition of indecent exposure to include garments that give the appearance of a person's buttocks, genitals, pelvis or nipple.

Moore said the bill could outlaw some provocative clothing, and later said he thinks yoga pants should be illegal in public.

Moore and retired professor Walt Hill drafted HB365 after last year's Bare as you Dare bicycle event outraged some residents last summer.

Fearing that denying organizers an event permit would breach free speech, city officials allowed participants, many of them completely nude, to ride through downtown Missoula on Aug. 17.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1991 that state prohibitions on public nudity are constitutional given that nudity itself is not an expression. Bare as you Dare organizers call the event a celebration of body image and bicyclists' right to use public roads.

Currently, a person convicted of indecent exposure three times in Montana can be sentenced to life in jail and up to $10,000.

Although members of the committee giggled about the bill, no discussion was allowed before the voice call vote to table it.

Bare Butts live on.