I'm wearing a dress today. I plan on walking around New York City all day wearing it and, call me crazy, but I would REALLY rather a random creepazoid does not reserve the right to film up it.
Well, if I was in Georgia, it looks like I would be out of luck.
Let me give you some backstory here. In June 2013, a girl decided to go grocery shopping in Houston County, Georgia, wearing a skirt. Kind of like how I just went to Whole Foods 30 minutes ago in my dress. The only difference is, nobody filmed up my dress with their camera phone.
Footage at the Publix grocery store shows an employee, Brandon Lee Gary, stooping down behind the woman as he aims his cell phone camera under her skirt while she picks an item from the shelves. He does this at least three more times. She (obviously) gets upset and leaves. According to the Mirror, she comes back later to complain to the store's manager. Gary eventually admitted to police officers that he was, in fact, responsible for the recordings.
Initially, things were going as any decent human being would hope they would go. Following the incident, a local judge convicted Gary of criminal invasion of privacy. He explained that, "there's no more blatant invasion of privacy than to do what [Gary] did," according to the appeals court ruling.
But then, Gary appealed. And in his appeal, the court had to see whether his conduct was just pervy or actually criminal under the state's "invasion of privacy" law. The law basically bans people to use any sort of device to,
observe, photograph or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of public view.
Unfortunately, just a few days ago, the court ruled six to three that the space underneath a woman's skirt does not count as a "private place."
So... he's innocent.
Judge Elizabeth Branch, one of the six judges, admits that Lee's actions are disgusting. But she also stands by the fact that there is a gap in Georgia state law, which allows for such disgusting behavior,
It is regrettable that no law currently exists which criminalizes [the appellant's] reprehensible conduct.
Maybe think twice next time you're debating wearing a skirt in Georgia.
Citations: A16A0666. GARY v. THE STATE. (Georgia Appeals Court), Georgia Court Says It's Legal to Film Video Up a Woman's Skirt (Mother Jones), Taking upskirt pictures is NOT a crime in US state after bizarre ruling (Mirror)
