Being that the TSA uses invasive security procedures, some people who go through the airport security screening process are fed up. An Oregon man decided he had enough with the TSA invading his privacy, so in an ironic protest, he stripped down naked as he went through security. Now a judge has found him not guilty of indecent exposure.
On April 17, John Brennan, 50, decided to wear nothing but his birthday suit after he was fed up with the Transportation Security Administration's security process. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Rees ruled that Brennan was just using his First Amendment rights and the crude move was just a matter or protest, which is protected speech.
"I was aware of the irony of removing my clothes to protect my privacy," Brennan said from the witness stand on Wednesday.
When Brennan decided to strip down, he was on a business trip to San Jose, California. Brennan is no stranger to the security process at the airport as he flies out of Portland International Airport at least once a month for his job.
During this particular date, Brennan first refused to go through the TSA's invasive body scanners, which many complain are an invasion of privacy. Instead, he opted for the regular metal detectors and a pat down. However, during this particular pat down, Transportation Security Administration Officer Steven Van Gordon found nitrates on the gloves he used to search Brennan.
At that point, Brennan felt like he was being likened to a terrorist. "For me, time slowed down," Brennan said as quoted by The Associated Press. "I thought about nitrates and I thought about the Oklahoma City bombing." The silent accusation was a final straw for Brennan. He has enough and then proceeded to take off his clothes.
In order to cover Brennan, the TSA piled up plastic crates around Brennan until the Portland police came to arrest him. He was taken to Multnomah County Jail and demanded an early trial, but his request was ignored. His trial was held Wednesday.
Brennan had no intentions of staging a protest that day, but the idea had been in his mind for a while. A year earlier he asked airport police about the laws regarding nudity at the airport. According to the law, a naked person is only committing a crime if they're having sex in public or if they stripped down to attempt to arouse another person.
Despite learning what the laws were, Brennan still toyed with the idea of stripping down in protest. He just didn't have a good enough reason to until the April 17 incident.
Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Joel Petersen, who was arguing that Brennan's move was indecent exposure, questioned whether others will just use protest as an excuse for stripping down in the future. "Any person naked for any purpose will be able to say it was protected speech," Petersen said, as quoted by The Associated Press.
Upon leaving the court on Wednesday, Brennan explained how he wanted to show the TSA how intrusive and inappropriate their body scanners are. "I wanted to show them it's a two-way street," he said. "I don't like a naked picture of me being available."
Ironically, with a quick Google search, Brennan's naked photo during the screening can be easily found by anyone on the internet. At least he won't be charged for the act of protest.
Brennan isn't the only one to find the TSA's practices a bit silly at times. Recently, the TSA pulled aside Jonah Falcon and frisked him because they noticed a suspicious bulge in his pants. What they didn't know is that Falcon is the man with the largest penis in the world.
In April, a woman protested against the TSA in her own way at a Florida airport. After getting a pat down, she groped a female TSA agent to make a point.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
