Protest in the buff OK, Portland judge decides

PORTLAND — A judge has ruled that you can, indeed, "let it all hang out" in Portland and dismissed indecent exposure charges against a nude bicycle rider who did just that.

In Portland, the judge said, cycling naked has been anointed as a "well-established tradition" and understood as a form of "symbolic protest."

Judge Jerome LaBarre said the city's annual World Naked Bike Ride — in which as many as 1,200 people took part last June 14 — has helped cement riding in the buff as a form of protest against cars and dependence on fossil fuels.

LaBarre then cleared Michael "Bobby" Hammond, 21, after two days of hearings.

Hammond ran afoul of the constabulary June 26, when he stripped down and hopped on his 10-speed in an effort, he says, to show that he alone was powering it.

Portland police, however, saw Hammond's two-minute ride through the Alberta Arts District as a stunt, not free speech, and arrested him, citing a city code that states it's illegal to expose genitalia in a public place in view of members of the opposite sex.

A bystander recorded the episode, which was posted on the Web.

As Hammond pulled to a stop, police began to question him.

Hammond said he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.

An officer told him to put on some pants or go to jail. "There are kids out there," the officer said.

"I just want to ride my bike," Hammond says. "I'm wearing a helmet."

The officer said that was nice, but that it was either pants or jail.

Three officers then brought Hammond to the ground, cuffed him and left him naked in the street.

The district attorney's office sought misdemeanor convictions for resisting arrest, fourth-degree assault and indecent exposure.

Hammond, who works at a cafe and as a caregiver for people with developmental disabilities, said he had moved to Portland from New Mexico and thought nudity was legal because he'd participated in his first World Naked Bike Ride without incident.

"It's one of the reasons I live in Portland. As far as you can see — as far in front of you and behind — it's naked people."

Twelve days after the group bike ride Hammond, housemates and friends sat on the lawn of his home selling art and bemoaning the traffic.

He and a friend, Walter Geis, decided to strip down and ride their bikes up and down the boulevard.

Hammond testified that he was expressing a message in support of bikes and against cars, foreign oil, the Iraq war and air pollution.

Deputy District Attorney Ryan Lufkin said Hammond made no attempt to communicate that.

"This was, by every definition of the word, streaking," Lufkin said and told the judge that if he dismissed the charges anyone who'd been arrested for indecent exposure could make the same case.

In 1985, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in that appearing nude in public can be a protected form of expression if it's done in political protest and should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

LaBarre said Hammond's case qualified.

Would he ride naked again?

"Oh, yeah," he said.