A man who turned heads around the world for stripping naked during an airport security screening has been found not guilty of indecent exposure in a Multnomah County, Oregon, court. Originally charging him with a misdemeanor, prosecutors eventually stripped down the offense to a violation, essentially the equivalent of a traffic ticket, after the man refused to plead guilty and instead demanded a jury trial.
The now-50-year-old technology consultant was preparing to board a plane for a business trip April 17 when a Transportation Security Administration screener patted him down and allegedly detected possible nitrates on his gloves, presumably from the man's clothing. The passenger said that after being told he would have to undergo additional screening, he became fed up and decided to take off all of his clothes in protest. A supervisor came over and ordered him to put his clothes back on, but the man refused. The supervisor threatened to call police, to which the man replied that he would wait until officers arrived before getting dressed.
In the four or five minutes it took for police to respond, several other passengers gawked and even took photos. The man insists he didn't plan to stage a protest when he arrived at the airport, but had simply had enough of the TSA's harassment and invasive security measures and decided to strip naked to prove he didn't have a bomb, recognizing the irony of exposing himself in the name of privacy.
Rather than plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge after his arrest, which would have likely required a fine, an apology and community service, the man insisted he hadn't done anything wrong and was well within his rights to protest the TSA screening. Prosecutors said he'd violated a Portland ordinance that prohibits people from exposing themselves in public and in the presence of the opposite sex, but the defense cited a 1985 state Court of Appeals ruling that said nudity laws don't apply to protests.
In a city that hosts an event called the World Naked Bike Ride, it seems clear the man was within his rights to conduct a nude protest. While police hope his victory doesn't encourage others to disrobe for the mere sake of being legally naked in public, the man's case demonstrates that it pays to know your rights and stand up for them.
Source: Oregon Live, "Portland's airport stripper John Brennan convinces judge nudity was protest against TSA," Aimee Green, July 18, 2012
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