Lewd behavior may be something as mundane as a drunk man relieving himself in the full glare of daylight on a city street without giving a rip if anyone sees him.
Then again, it may be two people in a park enjoying each other’s company, in the altogether and, well, altogether too much, yards from where people are.
And a host of, ahem, other behaviors, some of which may fall into a gray area.
A law working its way through Auburn’s various City subcommittees would at last allow Auburn’s police to cite locally-written rules about what does and does not constitute lewd behavior.
Today, face to face with a lewd act, an Auburn Police officer may only refer to state law.
“It has more to do with being able to write under City law through our municipal courts rather than state law,” City Councilman John Holman said of the proposed ordinance “relating to lewd conduct.”
“This will put it on the books for the City, without an officer having to say, ‘Oh, we don’t anything on the Auburn code, we have to use state law,” added Holman, a former police officer. “It makes it more usable by citing under an Auburn code rather than state law.”
Exposing one’s genitals or breasts, touching or fondling, masturbation or other sexual conduct would henceforth constitute lewd acts. As proposed, the ordinance specifies that anybody who intentionally performs lewd acts like these in a public place or under circumstances where people would be likely to see them is guilty of a misdemeanor.
As proposed, however, the ordinance excludes:
• Plays, operas, musicals or other dramatic works that are not obscene
• Classes, seminars and lectures conducted for serious scientific or educational purposes.
• Exhibitions, performance or dances that are not obscene
• Adult entertainment activities operating in accordance with City code.
• Breastfeeding or expressing breast milk.
“Sometimes it could just be someone with an urgent bodily need and no intent to be rude, as opposed to somebody who is doing it for shock value,” said Holman.
Holman agreed with former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s famous comment on obscenity: “I know it when I see it.”
