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Look in your closet: Do you need a lawyer?
Last night, Capitol Hill police delivered an "oops-sorry!" to two women who were bounced from President Bush's state of the union address for wearing t-shirts with political messages. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer told reporters that "Neither guest should have been confronted about the expressive T-shirts." (For more details, read The AP here.)
The shock of watching and reading how anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was cuffed and how Beverly Young, the wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida who wore a support-our-troops tee, was ejected from the gallery has created uncommon common ground in the blogosphere. As Capt. Ed puts it so beautifully in "The Right to Bare Arms" (hat-tip Rhymes with Right):
"Since when have we become so fragile that the wearing of a protest t-shirt become so unsettling? Both women should have reconsidered their wardrobe for the speech. However, a fashion crime should not equate to police action, and arresting someone for wearing a dumb t-shirt should not happen in America."
Lauren Gelman doesn't cop to the worst-dressed bit, but otherwise wholeheartedly agrees: "In President Bush's State of the Union he urged citizen's to support his efforts to promote democracy overseas. But what about democracy at home? There were two people kicked out of the State of the Union adress because of the tee-shirt they were wearing. Pause. Can you believe this is the "democracy" we are living in..." Michael Cernovich makes it clear he "loathes" Sheehan but is horrified by her treatment and has built quite a legal case for how her rights were violated.
Make that her, Young and many others. This kind of incident has been happening all over the United States. Remember these stories?
- Southwest Airline Kicks Woman Off Plane for Political Message on T-Shirt
- Student Suspended For Wearing a Pepsi T-Shirt!
- Student suspended for wearing school t-shirt
The AP reports that Mrs. Young was "humiliated" according to her husband. I can only imagine how she must have felt. Much less Sheehan, who says she unzipped her sweater because she was hot. But the humiliation is not theirs. It belongs to the Capitol police, and, frankly, to every lawmaker in attendance who sat still for it and to the U.S. Attorney's office for filing the charges. And don't even get me started on the four Supreme Court justices who decided to attend.
Sheehan's escort, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Ca.), is quoted has having said,
"It stunned me because I didn't know in America you could be arrested for wearing a T-shirt with a slogan on it. That's especially so in the Capitol and in the House of Representatives, which is the people's House."
That's exactly the question: What do we the people know? What do we need to know? Bottom line: I'm not sure the general public knows anything about our t-shirt wearing and baring rights. And knowing whether and when you can be arrested for wearing such a t-shirt seems pretty fundamental to life in the United States.
So I hope Sheehan, Young, Woolsey and the bloggers above stay on the case. I own t-shirts. I need answers.
