Minnesota lawmakers want to make it legal for women to go topless in public after a resident was sentenced to prison for “indecent exposure” related to exposing her breasts.
“This seems really wrong to me,” said Minnesota Rep. Samantha Censor Mura. told the Star Tribune About the conviction. “I think this law feels very outdated, especially now that we as a society are changing the way we think about gender and sexual identity.”
Sensa Mula of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party acknowledged that her proposal likely won’t be heard this year, but said she hopes it will spark a broader discussion about changing gender identity and expression. Are expected.
Eloisa Plancarte was sentenced to 90 days in jail in 2021 after Rochester police responded to a report of a woman walking around a convenience store parking lot with her breasts exposed.
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Samantha Sensa Mura is a member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). She represents her District 63A in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County. (Minnesota House of Representatives)
Plancarte appealed the conviction. They argued that this violated their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. She pointed out that men are not charged with exposing their breasts in public. The Minnesota Court of Appeals subsequently voted 2-1 to uphold the decision.
In his motion to dismiss the appeal, Judge Kevin G. Ross cited a nearly 40-year-old decision that upheld the conviction of a woman who was seen sunbathing topless in a Minneapolis park.
Dissenting from the case was Judge Diane B. Bratwold, who said the ruling “raises more questions about criminal conduct than it clarifies.”
She also questioned whether it was illegal for transgender men who have not had mastectomies to be exposed in public. Judge John Schmidt, who upheld the conviction, also expressed concern about what the ruling would mean for transgender individuals.
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Minnesota law defines obscenity as “the intentional and indecent exposure of a person’s body or private parts.” ((Photo credit: Christophe Gateau/picture Alliance via Getty Images))
Fellow Democratic Rep. Brion Curran and Sensa Mura, co-author of the amendment, told the media that the current law gives police officers too much flexibility when it comes to a suspect’s gender identity.
“If law enforcement determines that someone identifies as a woman, and they have no shirt on, they will likely be treated differently than if they identify as a man,” Sens. he said. “This law is no longer relevant as understandings of gender are changing.”
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Minnesota law currently defines: Indecent assault is defined as an incident in which someone “deliberately and lewdly exposes a person’s body or private parts.”
