Montana Lawmaker Fails to Ban Yoga Pants

A Montana legislative panel moved to kill an indecent-exposure bill yesterday after the lawmaker who introduced it said he thinks yoga pants should be illegal. Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to table House Bill 365, introduced by Rep. David Moore. The proposal would have expanded the definition of indecent exposure to include garments that give the appearance of a person's buttocks, genitals, pelvis, or female nipple.

Moore, a Republican from Missoula, said he wouldn't have a problem with people being arrested for wearing such provocative clothing such as tight-fitting beige garments. He also said yoga pants should be illegal. Although members of the committee giggled about the bill, no discussion was allowed before a voice vote to table it. Moore and retired professor Walt Hill drafted the bill after the Bare as You Dare bicycle event outraged some residents last summer. Fearing that denying organizers an event permit would breach free speech, city officials allowed participants, many of them nude, to ride through downtown Missoula. (More indecent exposure stories.)