Portland's "Naked American Hero" not guilty!

Here's the live blog recap of Boing Boing reader John Brennan's trial for taking his clothes off in protest at a TSA screening checkpoint at the Portland Airport. John was found not guilty -- hurray!

10:40am — The first witness is in the case is TSA officer Steven Van Gordon, who relayed the story of Brennan opting out of the full body scanner, requiring him to walk through a metal detector and get a pat down. Brennan didn't raise any protest when Van Gordon patted him down. But when Van Gordon tested his gloves after the pat down, the computer detected "nitrates" on the gloves and Van Gordon told Brennan he'd need additional screening. That's when Brennan got upset and said, "I guess I have to show you that I don't have anything" and stripped totally nude.

"He whipped them off pretty fast," said Van Gordon.

"Were you able to see his genitalia?" asked the prosecuting attorney.

"Yes," said Van Gordon. While the TSA officers called Port police, the crew stacked plastic bins around Brennan to shield his nudity from passing passengers who'd begun pointing and taking cell phone pictures.

When port police arrived and asked Brennan to get dressed, that's when the Naked American Hero said he was protesting and that he was protected under Oregon's nudity laws.

The prosecutor seems to be painting the picture that Brennan wasn't legitimately protesting because he didn't raise any issue during the pat down and wasn't wearing any sort of written message—like painting his chest with some words of protest—admonishing the TSA.

Portland's "Naked American Hero" not guilty!

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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unit_1421

I love that they built a conveyor tray anti-cock fort around him, that’s priceless!
- John Maple
  
  ”Anti-cock fort”
  A must-have for the next century.
Sagodjur

“You failed to properly file a request for a permit for your spontaneous protest 14 days in advance of your completely unplanned actions, therefore your impromptu demonstration is not considered valid.”
- http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan
  
  We permit only promptu impromptus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koocheekoo/ Koocheekoo

Our local news has some great photos from the trial including his post-trial victory dance.
http://www.kval.com/news/business/Man-who-stripped-for-TSA-search-at-PDX-found-not-guilty-162935416.html
- Shibi_SF
  
  Thanks for the link! Mr. Brennan strikes me as someone we would all enjoy flying with. Also, he has a nice beard.
  - retepslluerb
    
    A nice beard? How can you tell? They blurred that picture.
- https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
  
  That is priceless!
  
  (Plus, our hero performs a little pole dance! :P )
Slartibartfatsdomino

“A Multnomah County prosecutor said if Brennan’s actions are considered protected by the First Amendment, then anyone who is arrested while nude can also claim that their actions are a protest.”

Hey, you jackass prosecutor, if they are committing a crime while nude, than you can arrest and prosecute them for that crime. Otherwise, it’s not illegal to be naked in Portland.
- social_maladroit
  
  It is, actually, under Title 14 of the City Code:
  
  It is unlawful for any person to expose his or her genitalia while in a public place or place visible from a public place, if the public place is open or available to persons of the opposite sex.
  
  — 14A.40.030 Indecent Exposure
  
  (Don’t let someone fool you into thinkin’ you can come here ‘n’ show off yer naughty bits without havin’ a chat with the local constabulary!)
  
  So, uh, the upshot was that the right to free speech granted by article 1, section 8 of Oregon’s Constitution trumped the city code against indecent exposure.
  
  Which is a pretty damn cool outcome.
  - Slartibartfatsdomino
    
    Oh, I was apparently confused. It’s a good thing I don’t habitually go walking around the block naked.
    
    Next time I feel the urge, I’ll make sure to make a sign first!
    
    I’m actually heading out through PDX in a few days. And I’m pretty peeved at the TSA. But I don’t think I’ll be able to bring myself to repeat Mr. Brennan’s statement.
    - EvilTerran
      
      A sign reading “down with 14A.40.030!” would be perfect
      - Slartibartfatsdomino
        
        Holy sh*t! That is sooooooo perfect! I’m making that sign now just in case!
elix

The revolution will not be clothed.
- Mark Dow
  
  But particular bits of protected speech will be censored in the photos.
vrplumber

If you are naked in public, you don’t need a sign or “written message” to draw attention to your issue.

That will take care of itself.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

WOLVERINES!
bbonyx

Did someone say American Hero?

♫ Believe it or not, I’m wearin’ no clothes!
Never thought I could be so nu-u-ude! ♫
Culturedropout

Congratulations, sir. My… clothes… are off to you. Never have so few exposed so much to shame so many.

But this one just cries out for a caption…

http://media.kval.com/images/120718+TSA+Protest+Brennan+%283%29.jpg
- Mark Dow
  
  “My free speech is this big.”
  - https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0
    
    ”Don’t tread on me.”
  - malindrome
    
    That sounds more like the guy in the other TSA story (world’s largest penis guy).
https://twitter.com/PhoetrySlam Cyran0

Makes me wonder what other states have laws similar to Oregon’s?
Sarah Goebel

john brennan, you’re my hero.
http://echofox3.blogspot.com efergus3

Funny, though I’m surprised that they didn’t make him shave his beard off. Could be hiding a terrorist or two in there. Just saying…
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578861335 Sheila Harris
  
  Haha. They once searched my ponytail, I shit you not. Such a joke.
  - http://echofox3.blogspot.com efergus3
    
    All security theater. Improv, I think.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=578861335 Sheila Harris

Funny. Last time I flew to the U.S., I opted out of the porno scanner and got the pat down. They gave me the “nitrates” song and dance, too…
- http://twitter.com/SSGGeezer Thomas Needham
  
  Nitrates from fecal matter, they sit around with their thumbs….
- Jerril
  
  I’m opting out this summer. It will be an interesting and totally unscientific test to see if I get the same “nitrates” comment.
  
  For Science!
- Rachael Hoffman-Dachelet
  
  Lotion with glycerin in it registers positive. I was once told by a nice TSA gentleman to wipe down my CPAP (a medical device) with rubbing alcohol before I fly to remove the glycerine from my lotion to avoid getting a positive on the bomb materials sniffer thing.
Paul Renault

The prosecutor seems to be painting the picture that Brennan wasn’t legitimately protesting because he didn’t raise any issue during the pat down and wasn’t wearing any sort of written message—like painting his chest with some words of protest—admonishing the TSA.

Two points:
1) People wearing t-shirts with anti-TSA messages have been told, not asked, told by the TSA to take them off.
2) The prosecutor has said, if I understand him correctly, that if the protestor has an anti-TSA message painted directly on his/her chest, the (s)he will accept it as “symbolic” nudity and protected as free speech.

So PDX users, you have your marching orders!
- elix
  
  1) People wearing t-shirts with anti-TSA messages have been told, not asked, told by the TSA to take them off.
  
  What about t-shirts that just have the text of the Fourth Amendment on them? I’d wear one of those.
  - http://dreadpiraterobert.blogspot.com dreadpiraterobert
    
    You should find one that has the Fourth Amendment written in Farsi.
    - elix
      
      “What Would Jesus Do?” in Farsi would be even better.
StumptownGeek

It appears that the TSA officer’s testimony was truncated in the reporting. It should have read:

“Were you able to see his genitalia?” asked the prosecuting attorney.

“Yes,” said Van Gordon. “I was intimidated by his balls of steel.”
- elix
  
  “Yes, they were reflecting the overhead lighting quite strongly.”
- http://twitter.com/UFOHUNTERORGUK UFOHUNTERORGUK
  
  Nice one mate ! lol lmao
Bodhipaksa

I take my hat off to the man. And my pants.
That_Anonymous_Coward

Makes one wonder if those gloves test positive for nitrates on their own.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6LOJDBXCDHL5MVQQRLOCCJ35AY alexb
  
  What, the purple *nitryl* gloves might have nitrates in them…or something similar?
  - That_Anonymous_Coward
    
    Or it might just be a handy tool to “find” nitrates on people who opt out of the pornoscanners and the TSA agents then have to frisk. If they make it as inconvenient for you as possible many people will just willingly be subjected to unmetered amounts of radiation to avoid the extra hassle and the joy of missing a flight.
- Ipo
  
  Makes me wonder which laundry detergent to use before flying.
  Are there any without nitrates?
- James Penrose
  
  I suspect, but have no evidence, that the machines generate a random number of “positives” to keep the “officers” alert (since their job is 99.99999 per cent useless, repetitive and boring) and because there’s just going to be a certain error rate inherent in these instant chemist-in-a-box devices.
  
  (Note: the fancier x-ray machines can also generate random alerts when scanning carry-ons so a certain percentage will get hand-inspected for the same reason and to test the “inspectors”.)
  
  When working drug dogs or bomb dogs, they have to be allowed to find something once in a while or they get dispirited and bored and since the average TSA staffer is less bright than the average beagle, you have to work harder to keep them engaged since giving them squeaky toys doesn’t look good to the public.
  - gadgetphile
    
    Well, machine-based random testing would be much better than human-based.
pjcamp

So that means the silent lunch counter sit-ins of the 50′s were also not protests?
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Wow, please don’t compare this to that.
  - http://www.openbuddha.com/ Al Billings
    
    Because the sausage was better at the diner?
  - Tynam
    
    Why not? Pjcamp wasn’t comparing the importance of the protest, he was saying that you don’t have to carry a placard to be protesting.
    
    The two protests have only this in common: there was no need for a sign. Everyone knew what the issue was.
    - Navin_Johnson
      
      If you need to ask, you’ve got big probs.
      - DewiMorgan
        
        Then we have big probs. Now answer the question: why not?
      - Navin_Johnson
        
        Because even comparing what blacks had to do to gain basic civil rights in the 50s/60s to this is disgusting.
Stonewalker

I like this naked man. Rock on, civil rights action hero!
The King of Athiests

Awesome. I hope there are daily mass protests at the Portland airport.
http://www.kmoser.com kmoser

His epidermis is showing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

COINKYDINK!

I just finished reading these comments when a story about Brennan ran on the local TV news. He was interviewed outside the courtroom, and came across as an articulate, level-headed, laid-back geek.

Good’oh man!
- Ipo
  
  He is one of us, you know, a happy bOINGbOING mutant.
awjt

I was just in the EU and Canada this year. Not saying any other country is better than the US, since they all have their problems. But, I can tell these other places are generally a whole lot more laid back than our dear old U S of A. People mind their own damn business more and aren’t trying to control everyone else. Oh, there seems to be way fewer ignoramuses and ruffians in these places, too. Don’t know why.
John Maple

I opted out for the pat-down and told the guy that I was there for my “free government massage”. He laughed and said he would go easy on me.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GHBH5CHA6RRYC6GGN6TFRTNN7Q No
  
  Yes, they’ve been using humor as a way to diffuse the situation now. Smile while your rights are being stripped from you . . . . fools.