Baggy Pants Illegal In Louisiana Town: Fines Up To $100 For Wearing Style And 16 Hours Of Mandatory Community Service

Baggy pants are illegal in one Louisiana town after the city council passed an ordinance this week to ban the wear in public. The council of Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish voted 8-1 to pass the proposition despite very divergent opinions in the community.

Individuals seen wearing baggy pants will be fined $50 for the first offense and $100 for the second offense. They will be asked to render 16 hours of mandatory community service if they commit a third offense. A judge will determine the consequence of violations beyond that.

WWLTV reports that the local NAACP chapter fully agrees with the ban. The group’s president, Jerome Boykin said, “There is nothing positive about people wearing saggy pants. This is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue... Young men who were in prison who wanted to have sex with other men would send a signal to another man with his pants below his waist.”

One of the community residents, Ids Moore, disagreed with the decision of the council. She said, “It’s certainly not the first time elders complained about the social mores and dress habits of young people. But to make laws of governing social differences is a slippery slope to the level of government that we do not allow.”

The Vice Chairman of the Terrebonne Council, Russell Hornsby, advised that the council check up on the saggy pants issue in a year to see if it has changed community standards. He suggested that the council should aim to re-evaluate the decision.

The council’s decision is not the first time the U.S. government is putting its hand on citizens’ pants, particularly the baggy pants kind. Chicago schools have also banned it and a town in Georgia has collected fines for the offense. There have also been campaigns launched in other cities to counter the use of such type of pants.