A city in Mexico has approved a law change allowing sexual intercourse and exhibitionism in public, providing no one complains about it.
The move is intended to prevent police in Guadalajara, a city of 1.5 million people, from extorting couples who “give their love” to each other in public, said a councillor who presented the initiative.
The city council last week pushed through the reform, which now states: “Having sexual relations or committing acts of exhibitionism of a sexual nature in public places, vacant lots, inside vehicles or in private locations in public view will be considered administrative offences, as long as a citizen requests police intervention."
Guadalupe Morfin Otero, the politician who proposed the change, cited a survey among university students in which 90 per cent said they had experienced extortion by officers who accused them of immoral acts or exhibitionism.
Lawmakers hope the change will allow police to focus on fighting more serious crimes, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal.
However, in a city considered one of the most conservative in Mexico, the move was opposed by both the National Action and Institutional Revolutionary parties, who instead urged the council to focus on rooting out corruption in the police directly.
