Baggy pants 'just not decent'
2007-08-30 11:47
Washington - Trousers that dangle way below the belt and expose what the wearer has on - or just has - underneath have been banned in two cities in the southern state of Louisiana, say city officials.
Louis Marshall, a city councillor in Alexandria, said: "We unanimously passed the legislation because we have had so many complaints from citizens who don't want to see young men with pants hanging so low, showing their underwear and, in some cases, their posterior.
"The legislation is gender neutral: we wouldn't want to see young ladies walking down the street showing their underwear either. Dressing like that - it's just not right or decent."
Councillors in another Louisiana city, Shreveport, passed similar legislation, although not unanimously.
Councillor Calvin Lester said: "I introduced the bill because I was concerned to see our young folk walking around showing their underwear, or worse. This fashion is unsightly, unseemly and disrespectful."
Mayor needs to approve law
Lester added: "Some people are saying this is a ban on freedom of expression, but our concern was with behaviour."
In Alexandria, where the council passed the new law unanimously, it could not be vetoed by the mayor and passes into law immediately, said Marshall.
According to Lester, in Shreveport, where the proposal passed with four members of the council voting in favour and three against, the law needed to be approved by the mayor, who had "said he will definitely sign".
Councillors in Atlanta, Georgia, were also debating whether to ban saggy pants, and the very low-slung fashion statement was already against city law in Delcambre, Louisiana, where offenders' cheek could earn them a fine of $500 or up to six months in jail.
Marshall said that in Alexandria, the punishment would be "a fine starting at $25, that goes up every time the pants go down".
The trend of wearing oversized trousers that fell down and exposed one's smalls derives from the US prison system, where inmates' belts were taken away, causing their trousers to descend far below their waists.
Opponents of saggy pants laws said they were a form of racial discrimination, as the fashion was closely linked to the hip-hop culture and was hugely popular among young blacks.