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Robert Gehrke: This flimsy criminal case should reshape Utah’s lewdness law

Related Topics: Utah, Fort Collins, Jessica Miller, case

Tilli Buchanan says that when her stepkids walked in on her without a top on, she thought she could use it to teach them about double-standards when it comes to perceptions of the female body.

Instead, she was charged with a crime and her case has sparked a debate over our concepts of public decency and the government’s power to enforce it, even in one’s own home. And, if she is successful, Buchanan could see Utah’s law prohibiting women from being topless in public struck down as discriminatory.

“I was devastated,” Buchanan told my colleague, Jessica Miller.