Utah makes it illegal to act sexy in public

If Michael was in Utah, he’d be a sex worker by now

File this under the header of “yet another stupid prudish law that can’t possibly be abused at all”:

Utah defines solicitation as a person agreeing to sex in exchange for money. A new law that went into effect this month broadened the definition to include any person who indicates through lewd acts, such as exposing or touching themselves, that they intend to exchange sex for money.

It was intended to help law enforcement agents working undercover in prostitution stings, Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said Friday.

He said it would protect officers who were being asked by prostitutes to expose or touch themselves to prove they're not police because making such requests as a precursor to offering sex for money is illegal under the new law.

"Officers were being put in a position that we're not going to allow, so we took a different direction," Burbank said.

Right. So your next logical course of action was to make it illegal for anyone to engage in “lewd acts”, a definition that’s so insanely broad that it could lead to anyone who so much as scratches their crotch or ass on a sidewalk being mistaken for a sex worker. Not to mention that even sexually non-explicit acts such as erotic dancing and the likes would also be made illegal.

So, congratulations to simple-minded Utah police and lawmakers for letting their prudish ideology further restrict civil rights on a transparently ridiculous basis.

(via The Agitator)