Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill that criminalizes the public exposure of breasts.
House Bill 270 updates Idaho’s indecent exposure law, which already bans public exposure of genitals, to include female breasts, male breasts altered to look like female breasts, artificial breasts and toys or products that resemble genitals.
Breastfeeding is exempt.
The bill takes effect immediately — through an emergency clause. Little signed the bill Wednesday, according to the governor’s office legislation tracker.
Supporters say the bill will protect decency and modernize Idaho’s indecent exposure law. Opponents say it could unduly punish transgender Idahoans and males experiencing hormonal conditions that enlarge breasts.
The Republican-supermajority controlled Legislature widely passed the bill, with support from 87 Republican state lawmakers and opposition from 14 Democratic state lawmakers.
The bill was cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Cornilles, R-Nampa, and Sens. Brian Lenney, R-Nampa, and Ben Toews, R-Coeur d’Alene.
Debating the bill in the Senate this week, Lenney said the bill deals with a real problem of people exposing themselves.
“I’ve heard arguments … on this bill that said this somehow sexualizes breasts. I don’t think we need a bill to do that,” he said. “I think that’s been happening since the Garden of Eden, and it’s going to continue to happen forever.”
Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, argued the bill violates the First Amendment by criminalizing expression that “we don’t like.”
And she said the bill would allow people to call police over dangling faux scrotums hung on truck hitches, commonly called truck nuts.
“They’re gross, they’re offensive, and kids on the road see them. So why wouldn’t the police get a call and say, ‘That offends me, pull it off the truck?’” Wintrow said. “Because now this bill will allow it. And I talked to police and they said, ‘Indeed it would.’”
Nampa City Councilmember Sebastian Griffin helped craft the bill, telling lawmakers that the bill stemmed from him seeing a topless woman at an event at Lakeview Park in Nampa, where Canyon County Pride was held. He testified a police officer he approached at the time said the person wasn’t engaging in illegal behavior.
That’s because it is not illegal for a man with breast enhancements to walk around topless, the officer said, according to Griffin.
A first violation of Idaho’s indecent exposure law is a misdemeanor crime. A second offense within five years is a felony.
This article was first published by the Idaho Capital Sun, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
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