A south Florida city has overturned a ban on bottoms that reveal the wearer’s underwear.
The Opa-locka City Commission voted by four to one to repeal both the original 2007 legislation and a 2013 order that said women, not just men, could receive civil citations for wearing trousers that exposed their undergarments.
The Miami Herald reported the vote was a first reading of the repeal, meaning it will need to be approved again at a subsequent commission meeting before it is official.
But the item was co-sponsored by four of the five commissioners.
Around Opa-locka, which is north-east of Miami, signs still warn people about the rule.
They show an image of two young men wearing trousers below their waists and featuring the words: “No ifs, and or butts … It’s the city law!”
“I was never in support of it, even as a resident,” vice-mayor Chris Davis, who sponsored the repeal, told the Miami Herald.
“I felt it disproportionately affected a certain segment of our population, which is young, African-American men.”
When the order was first passed, the ACLU of Florida called it a “ridiculous waste of public resources”, saying it would “impose overly harsh penalties for victimless behaviour” and disproportionately affect Black youths.
