Teh One Who Knocks
11-17-2016, 01:52 PM
By Grant Rodgers - The Des Moines Register
http://i.imgur.com/FRnCbW6.jpg
The message of the "free the nipple" campaign is coming to the federal courthouse in Des Moines.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa announced Friday it is joining a federal lawsuit brought in September against Marion County Attorney Ed Bull for threatening to bring a sexual exploitation charge against a teenage girl who sent two suggestive photos of herself to a high school classmate. The lawsuit asked a judge to block Bull from prosecuting the teen, claiming that the photos were protected free speech under the First Amendment because they were not obscene. Neither photo contained nudity.
An amended complaint announced by the civil liberty group embraces the ethos of the "free the nipple" movement, which argues that laws used to punish women for exposing their chests — when men can do so without consequence — are outdated, discriminatory and violate the equal protection clause enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
"Boys would not be prosecuted for taking the exact same picture that Ms. Doe is," said Glen Downey, a Des Moines civil rights lawyer who filed the lawsuit and is now partnering with the ACLU. "We think it's particularly important that prosecutors realize they can't single out girls for enhanced prosecution."
The teenager, a freshman athlete at Knoxville High School when she sent the photos in March, has remained anonymous. She's identified as "Nancy Doe" in court documents.
One of the photos the student took showed her wearing a sports bra and boy shorts, a style of underwear. The second photo showed Nancy Doe topless and wearing the same underwear, but her hair was covering her breasts.
The legal argument is novel, but it has been advanced by the ACLU and others in scenarios across the country. In 2015, the ACLU of Missouri went to court to challenge an indecent exposure ordinance in Springfield that advocates feared could make breastfeeding illegal.
In October, a federal judge in Colorado allowed a lawsuit to move forward challenging a Fort Collins city ordinance that bans women from going topless in public. Supporters of the ordinance argued that allowing women to go topless in public would tarnish the city's reputation, according to the Coloradoan newspaper. But U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote that lawyers representing the city were not able to convince him that the ordinance was not discriminatory.
In his ruling, Jackson wrote that case law suggests that differences between men and women cannot be used in laws to "create or perpetuate the legal, social and economic inferiority" of one sex or the other. The amended complaint filed in Doe's case echoes that language, claiming that Bull's use of Iowa law "is intended to perpetuate traditional gender roles and sex stereotypes about women’s and girls’ bodies."
Bull has defended his handling of the case, pointing to a diversion option he offered the teenage girl and her family that would have required her to take a class about the dangers of "sexting," make a written admission of guilt and accept restrictions on her computer and cellphone use.
“This lawsuit is the result of efforts made by my office to respond to a situation where numerous juveniles had exchanged sexually explicit photographs," Bull said in a September statement. "Rather than take every juvenile to court, I looked for a solution that would help them learn from their mistakes and hopefully prevent their behavior from being repeated, while allowing them to avoid having a criminal or juvenile conviction or even a charge on their record."
Alan Ostergren, president of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, has also defended Bull. "He sought to provide something that would be educational and rehabilitative, that these young people could learn a lesson about responsible behavior," Ostergren said after the lawsuit was filed.
But Rita Bettis, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa, said Friday that Doe's parents believe they are in a better position to handle the issue.
“The Does are reasonably concerned that the pretrial diversion program would have a harmful effect on their daughter’s self-esteem and punish her for doing something that was hardly obscene or against the law," Bettis said in a news release. "They do not want her to be labeled or shamed for her behavior.”
The lawsuit does not ask for any monetary damages, just for Bull to agree not to prosecute the teenage girl. Bettis said that the county attorney has agreed not to file criminal charges while the lawsuit is pending in front of a federal judge.
The photos were found by law enforcement earlier this year amid a "sexting" investigation that uncovered nude and semi-nude photos sent by several male and female students at the high school.
http://i.imgur.com/FRnCbW6.jpg
The message of the "free the nipple" campaign is coming to the federal courthouse in Des Moines.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa announced Friday it is joining a federal lawsuit brought in September against Marion County Attorney Ed Bull for threatening to bring a sexual exploitation charge against a teenage girl who sent two suggestive photos of herself to a high school classmate. The lawsuit asked a judge to block Bull from prosecuting the teen, claiming that the photos were protected free speech under the First Amendment because they were not obscene. Neither photo contained nudity.
An amended complaint announced by the civil liberty group embraces the ethos of the "free the nipple" movement, which argues that laws used to punish women for exposing their chests — when men can do so without consequence — are outdated, discriminatory and violate the equal protection clause enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
"Boys would not be prosecuted for taking the exact same picture that Ms. Doe is," said Glen Downey, a Des Moines civil rights lawyer who filed the lawsuit and is now partnering with the ACLU. "We think it's particularly important that prosecutors realize they can't single out girls for enhanced prosecution."
The teenager, a freshman athlete at Knoxville High School when she sent the photos in March, has remained anonymous. She's identified as "Nancy Doe" in court documents.
One of the photos the student took showed her wearing a sports bra and boy shorts, a style of underwear. The second photo showed Nancy Doe topless and wearing the same underwear, but her hair was covering her breasts.
The legal argument is novel, but it has been advanced by the ACLU and others in scenarios across the country. In 2015, the ACLU of Missouri went to court to challenge an indecent exposure ordinance in Springfield that advocates feared could make breastfeeding illegal.
In October, a federal judge in Colorado allowed a lawsuit to move forward challenging a Fort Collins city ordinance that bans women from going topless in public. Supporters of the ordinance argued that allowing women to go topless in public would tarnish the city's reputation, according to the Coloradoan newspaper. But U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote that lawyers representing the city were not able to convince him that the ordinance was not discriminatory.
In his ruling, Jackson wrote that case law suggests that differences between men and women cannot be used in laws to "create or perpetuate the legal, social and economic inferiority" of one sex or the other. The amended complaint filed in Doe's case echoes that language, claiming that Bull's use of Iowa law "is intended to perpetuate traditional gender roles and sex stereotypes about women’s and girls’ bodies."
Bull has defended his handling of the case, pointing to a diversion option he offered the teenage girl and her family that would have required her to take a class about the dangers of "sexting," make a written admission of guilt and accept restrictions on her computer and cellphone use.
“This lawsuit is the result of efforts made by my office to respond to a situation where numerous juveniles had exchanged sexually explicit photographs," Bull said in a September statement. "Rather than take every juvenile to court, I looked for a solution that would help them learn from their mistakes and hopefully prevent their behavior from being repeated, while allowing them to avoid having a criminal or juvenile conviction or even a charge on their record."
Alan Ostergren, president of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, has also defended Bull. "He sought to provide something that would be educational and rehabilitative, that these young people could learn a lesson about responsible behavior," Ostergren said after the lawsuit was filed.
But Rita Bettis, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa, said Friday that Doe's parents believe they are in a better position to handle the issue.
“The Does are reasonably concerned that the pretrial diversion program would have a harmful effect on their daughter’s self-esteem and punish her for doing something that was hardly obscene or against the law," Bettis said in a news release. "They do not want her to be labeled or shamed for her behavior.”
The lawsuit does not ask for any monetary damages, just for Bull to agree not to prosecute the teenage girl. Bettis said that the county attorney has agreed not to file criminal charges while the lawsuit is pending in front of a federal judge.
The photos were found by law enforcement earlier this year amid a "sexting" investigation that uncovered nude and semi-nude photos sent by several male and female students at the high school.