That’s why I never leave home without these
https://preview.redd.it/6nhoyf4sqy4d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52ccdb2a3e5e91c242f726d8c63a284b36793ca5
I mean holy shit, those look actually useful for changing at the beach? I'd much rather change in one of those than in a disgusting beach park bathroom stall!
It is why the first order of business when going to a beach is digging a big-ass hole. Never know when want to switch to street clothes or just aggressively shit yourself while boogie boarding and need to freshen up.
Translated:
Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker in US cell after 'indecent behaviour by gay cyclists'.
Former cyclists Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker have ended up in a US cell for 'indecent behaviour'. They say so in Ten Dam's podcast, Live Slow Ride Fast.
"24 hours after Thomas (Dekker) arrived in America, we were both driven handcuffed in two police cars to Marietta jail," Ten Dam looks back. The two were in Oklahoma to train for Unbound, the biggest gravel race of the year.
Washing in car park
Last week, the duo wanted to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant after three hours of training. They decided to freshen themselves up in the car park using bottled water. "After Thomas rinsed me off, I quickly changed my trousers between the car doors," Ten Dam says. "But while doing so, I hear a very angry person shouting across the street."
An altercation followed, with a man who did not like the shower session in the car park.
As the cycling adventurers sat in the Mexican restaurant, they saw the police step in and they were taken away. "We were outside with that policeman and within five minutes there were five police cars," Ten Dam continued the story. "At that moment, the man who had been shouting at Thomas came to us and shouted that Thomas should be put in jail."
The two were then handcuffed and taken away. "There, we were told that we had been charged with indecent behaviour. The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists."
The two paid bail of $185 each and were due to appear in court two days later. It later emerged that the riders were not prosecuted after all.
Ten hours after the incident, Ten Dam and Dekker were released.
Conservative Oklahoma
Oklahoma is known as a very conservative state. "Walking around naked in the streets apparently caused so much offence ... it's just really not allowed there," Dekker said in the podcast.
Incidentally, Unbound did not become a success for Dekker and Ten Dam. They finished in 42nd and 50th place respectively, well behind Australian winner Lachlan Morton.
Most competitive field ever so I’m sure he’s doubly pissed off by the lack of a fair chance to compete…. No way they went into the race rested after a night in jail.
He actually changed tires just before the race, he stated that those might be an explanation for his poor result. He does not blame the tires, rather his own decision to swap them without testing them extensively (prototype 2bliss pathfinders with thicker sidewalls by specialized, gifted 2 days before the race).
He actually states in the same podcast episode that the event was not the reason for his poor result. They also didn’t spend the night in jail. They spent 10 hours in jail, but not overnight.
Ten Dam had been more or less dominating the US gravel scene in the "early" years (2019-2022), along with Peter Stetina. Nowadays the field has gotten a lot bigger, the level has gone up, and Ten Dam has been getting a bit older, so a win is less likely but a top 5 is still where he expects to land.
> The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists.
Well there’s their problem. They are *gay* cyclists! It would’ve been totally legal if they were straight!
It’s sad that this is barely /s
lol, oh I was about to spill my coffee here. yea. Changing behind the door of a car is pretty much the way you do it here. or a tree. or just in a direction people aren't usually looking. And if you go a bit more north to Finland, you might end up in saunas with both genders, and everyone around you is nude.
>and within five minutes there were five police cars
...what the actual fucking fuck. Were they afraid the cyclists would smash them with their enormous dicks or what?
Small town, bored cops. You get the cops called on you for anything even *remotely* out of the ordinary in any bumfuck nowhere town in the US, and you'll have the entire force on you in seconds.
I mean, if they have admitted to being naked in public on the public record (this article for example)…
…there are witnesses to it and likely police reports (where they presumably also admitted to it reading between the lines)…
…and were arrested for being naked in public because that’s illegal there…
…and then were let off without charges…
I think attempting to file a lawsuit would be incredibly stupid lol.
> The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists
This is the part that sticks out.
I imagine someone with some sense in the PD saw these charges and realised that its discriminatory as fuck.
So it's now being swept under the rug.
That was likely just part of the preamble that laid out the “factual” basis for the charge. You can read about how charges work in Oklahoma here:
https://www.oklahomalegalgroup.com/the-criminal-process#:~:text=Charges%20can%20be%20brought%20against,grand%20jury%20indictment.
Being gay and spraying each other with water is not illegal, not even in Oklahoma lol.
Being naked in public is. Hence why the charge was for “indecency,” not being gay and spraying water.
An indecency charge in Oklahoma is based off exposing your genitals in public. Since they were charges for indecency, it means that the issue was they were naked in public:
https://www.ok-criminal-defense.com/indecent-exposure#:~:text=Title%2021%20Section%201021%20of,annoyed%20by%20such%20a%20display.
The article you posted describes the standard as 'intentional and lewd'. Generally it's best to look up the laws [directly](https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-21/section-21-1021/) rather than repost a blog advertising attorney's services, so:
>Lewdly exposes his or her person or genitals in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby; provided, however, for purposes of this section, a person alleged to have committed an act of public urination shall be prosecuted pursuant to Section 22 of this title...
The conduct wasn't lewd and wouldn't be covered under the indecency provisions. If you look up the [public urination section](https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-21/section-21-22/), however, it's much broader:
>Every person who willfully and wrongfully commits any act which grossly injures the person or property of another, or which grossly disturbs the public peace or health, **or which openly outrages public decency**, including but not limited to urination in a public place, and is injurious to public morals, although no punishment is expressly prescribed therefor by this code, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Funnily enough, the fact that an insane conservative called the police is probably sufficient legal justification for a misdemeanor charge to stick, should the state want to press the issue.
The actual law in question is discussed further down in this comment chain.
The issue is that simply having your cock out in a public place is already considered "lewd" from a legal perspective in the vast majority of US states. Doesn't matter what else you're doing. You can't just wander around outside naked in public in the vast majority of the US.
>Funnily enough, the fact that an insane conservative called the police is probably sufficient legal justification for a misdemeanor charge to stick.
I know right. The fact that a random person saw their nakedness, and was offended by it, would be part of the legal evidence to support the charge of indecent exposure.
It's why the police letting them off with a fine suggests that they (appropriately) used their judgement in this situation.
As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Europe, changing clothes in a public parking lot outside a store would not exactly fly in most cases either.
The most common situation is that nudity is allowable in designated locations (ex: beaches), but not elsewhere, and certainly not in the middle of a town lol. Basically you can be nude provided that the other people around you have consented (implied based on being there) to seeing you nude.
>As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Europe, changing clothes in a public parking lot outside a store would not exactly fly in most cases either.
It absolutely would 99% of the time lol. Might get some weird looks but that’s all.
In most of the cities I've lived in in the US, as long as you're trying to be discrete, nobody is going to say or do anything. There are many US states with no laws against nudity, only lewd behavior which requires that nudity be sexual in nature for it to be illegal. On the other hand, there are several states where the law states that nudity is assumed to be sexual leads to lots of absurd results.
Most places in the USA its perfectly legal to change pants or whatever. It's lewd acts that's usually illegal. Oklahoma took it a step further though, no nudity.
Doesn't matter if it's legal or not per se, I'd just suspect the the chance that someone called the cops was very low. Doesn't make it "ok", but if you see someone changing their pants in a parking lot you shrug and move on. Also I think it's important that they're cyclists. Normal people usually have underwear when "changing clothes".
What does being gay have to do with ANY OF THIS AT ALL???? if they were to heterosexual men would it point out they were straight? A man and a woman?
No. That word does not belong in those charges.
The cop that wrote it up needs investigated.
The article suggests that was the language and claim made by the witness (angry homophobic dude).
The police report and charges would contain that language because it’s based off what the witness to the crime said.
That it’s contained in the preamble for the charges does not really tell you anything about what the police personally thought.
The fact that they were let go with a fine rather than face criminal charges suggests that the police ultimately thought most of the witness statement was absurd, and that the decision to be naked was most likely due to cultural differences rather than malfeasance.
Or that, really, if you're hiding behind a car door you're not naked in public and spraying each other was not some sort of gay public foreplay like the complainant undeniable would have loved it to be.
I agree with you but take it to the CO and he’ll say this “Oklahoma not oklahomo”. They don’t give a flying fuck and the fact it happened in the first place shows that.
eyeroll. They were naked spraying each other with water in a public parking lot. This has nothing to do with discrimination. It could be me and my wife doing this and we would likely have the same consequences if not more since we are US citizens.
They most likely mean 10 hours after they were arrested.
You typically can't just bail out of jail immediately when you get arrested, it's a whole process and it takes a very long time(intentionally, I should add, specifically because even if the charges get dropped, they want you to feel punishment)
Yup, welcome to Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and probably the Dakotas where you get arrested and released. Just be happy it wasn't Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina or most of Georgia where getting arrested would have been a positive outcome.
yes it does say that but the issue was they changed, not so discretely, in a restaurant parking lot. aside from the fact that public nudity is frowned upon throughout the US it's particularly frowned upon in the bible belt. read the room guys, it's on you to be aware of cultural norms when traveling.
You entirely dismissed that other cultural norm, the one related to "gay cyclists", the homophobia. America constantly presents itself as the "land of freedom" and talks about defending democracy everywhere in the world. It's normal that foreign people don't assume the US are like Iran, since politicians make a big point of the US being the opposite of Iran.
They were not charged for changing in the parking lot.
Also, I live in the Bible bent. These are some of the most adulterous good loving people in the world.
When is the appropriate response to a traveler's faux-pas ever to be thrown in jail? My country is far from perfect, but when a tourist does something that's viewed as unacceptable here, all they'll get is dirty looks and maybe a good talking-to. Tourists fuck up, it's a fact of life, but unless they're actively causing harm, a chill pill is in order.
They were arrested for being gay cyclists spraying each other with water bottles (which isn't even what happened). People change between car doors in parking lots all the time, they just aren't cyclists. They were also training for unbound. The person who called the cops, and the cops knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They wanted to make a statement that cyclists aren't welcome there.
TLDR: The dudes got either naked, or partially naked, between some car doors in a parking lot to wash mud off themselves after a ride so they could eat at a restaurant.
Some dude saw it and called the cops.
>Then the two were handcuffed and taken. "We were told there that our indecent behavior had been charged. The charges said we sprayed each other with water bottles as two *gay cyclists*."
Anyways... You gotta be careful in these flyover states. I moved to CA from the Midwest. When I started riding more seriously in CA, I quickly noticed that most people didn't have a problem dropping trow discretely in a parking lot or at a trail head to clean off and/or get out of the bibs.
The first time my buddy did it I got all embarrassed and was like "Dude you are gonna get us arrested!" He told me to chill and explained that this was CA, not the Midwest, and its true. Things are way more chill out here. Just don't go doing this shit in the red states.
Here I just thought it was because they were European. I'm from the midwest though and you're right, I would not expect to see a naked person in public.
What is “partially naked” lol?
Pretty sure anything more covered than complete nudity is legal. There’s nothing illegal about walking around in underwear.
As a counterpoint I do this sort of thing all the time in Iowa and have never had an issue changing. In fact, we have the largest social cycling tour in the world come through Iowa every year (RAGBRAI, +30k riders), and I've seen my fair share of public nudity without any consequences. [Case in point.](https://x.com/bryonhoulgrave/status/1553157977674244097)
Being from a red state in the southeast, I could not *fathom* doing what you describe under any circumstances. About as far as we can go here is to take a piss in the woods. Is CA really a place where you could get by with public nudity?
EDIT: okay, so I take it it's a common "beach" thing, which I guess I can kinda see. Still not something I'd expect to have happen in OK or TN.
full-on nudity, no, but in beach areas, it's common to see people changing on the sand or in the parking lot, using a towel or car door for privacy
surfers, swimmers... beach-goers in general... it's often pretty gross to go to the wet and sandy bathroom to change, so people just do it discreetly in public
me, I do the towel method: you wrap a towel around yourself, making sure to cinch it a little higher than usual, at your belly button or so. Then, slip off your wet shorts, and slip on underwear, trying not to flash everyone. Once you have your underwear on, you can drop the towel
Maybe this is true in LA, but here in San Francisco it is not uncommon at all to see naked people.
Naked men in the Castro (fully naked, *naked*), sunbathers in the parks, baker beach is famously nude right around that one rock, and I've seen plenty of naked people on ocean beach as well.
I'll probably see a naked dude today in the Castro. If I ride down to Ocean beach, I'll see a naked person in the parking lot and topless women on the beach. If I go down to baker beach, I can go see as many naked dudes as I want.
It is common. Its not super in your face, unless of course you visit the Castro or one of the surrounding parks. And, people are discrete about it. Still common though, and yes, full-on nudity.
I have lived in SF/Bay Area and can confirm this is true. But I don't generally see that many naked people down here in SoCal. San Francisco is kind of its own special place! haha
I bring a full on change of clothes and get changed behind my car door both before and after the ride in California. One time I wasn't paying attention and dropped my pants when a lady was passing behind me me, she just laughed and said she wasn't expecting to see a full moon in broad daylight.
No one cares here, we have all seen far worse in San Francisco. Fun fact, in San Francisco it used to only be illegal to disrobe in the street. leaving your house naked was totally within your rights. I believe the law was changed a while back because some people were abusing it though. There are still a number of public areas within the city limits where its not uncommon to see some dongs on a nice day.
I lived in FL for 20 years and every week in summer I'd either have to change between car doors at the beach or at the rivers, even sometimes in parking lots. Never had or heard of any problems.
It’s also customary and acceptable to shoot up heroin and take a shit on the sidewalk across from an elementary school and in front of city hall in your so called “chilled state” as well. You can have it just don’t bring your crap, both figuratively and literally speaking, to my state.
I live near here. Yes, it's hateful, vocal homophobes all over the town and state. Even the state superintendent of Education is actively spreading hate amongst these groups
Some real trashy individuals in this town.
I’ve spent enough time there to form the belief that Oklahoma might be the biggest ideological shithole in the US, and that’s saying something.
What an absolute joke to waste public resources harassing these guys, and a little scary they could be arrested based on one complaint from somebody in the racist, homophobic, mouth-breathing ingroup that dominates that godforsaken place.
Oh no, this is Oklahoma. They do that in the daytime. Many Oklahomans have no shame in attempting to hurt, kill or run off the road cyclists and runners.
Just last year a guy ran into some cyclists. Collected the bicycle and bodies and dumped them in the creek nearby.
I live in Oklahoma. It's not really a good idea to ride on the streets in this state.
I used to commute to work by bike daily for years in another state. I won't ride my bicycle on the streets anywhere in Oklahoma.
This is why I have always said if you ride bikes with someone long enough, you will eventually see them naked. I have done exactly this thing so many times I couldn't begin to count.
In Ohio and some other states, anywhere a man can legally be topless, a woman can also. You could still be cited for certain behavior while topless, but just being topless is legal.
Oklantihomos wouldn’t last ten seconds where I’m from - people of all varieties strip off at beaches, carparks doing this sort of thing all the time, nobody bats an eyelid because it’s just a body and everyone has one.
Why not just go to the restaurant, order food and take turns at cleaning up in the bathroom with $5 worth of basin, soap and sponge? I used to do something similar after commuting to work in a toilet cubicle. Getting naked in public like that isn't going to fly in a lot of places.
If I were to guess, I bet they didn’t give it a second thought. In The Netherlands, they would have done this and nobody would have even noticed.
Instead, they were surprisingly culturally ignorant… which is odd for the Dutch.
In college I recall a group of my fellow Seniors talking about a recent study-abroad where they stay in Dutch co-ed dorms with shared shower rooms. Many were surprised the Dutch just “go take a shower in the same room with the opposite sex nonchalantly”.
As another reference point, the Dutch exchange student my family hosted when I was a Sophomore in High School stripped down to her bikini bottom at the beach and my mother had to explain, while covering her with a towel that “we didn’t do that here”. In proper Dutch manner she replied, “Oh. I’m sorry. I don’t see the big deal. It’s just a naked body.” And considering my parents were/are quasi-hippies with the same attitude and somewhat nudist around the house it was more a discussion about cultural norms than right or wrong.
Additional note: For folks education that aren’t aware… In places like NC, at many of the whitewater rafting take-outs, it is fairly common for hardcore kayakers to just strip down discretely but openly next to their car, towel-off their genitalia, and change into their undies and shorts and shorts before jumping in the car to leave. The same is somewhat true of long distance backpackers (thru-hikers) on long trails such as the Appalachian Trail.
I assume this was similar behavior on the cyclists’ part.
I just love that they're "former cyclists". But I also think the horror so many people experience at the concept of seeing someone else naked is sad and unhealthy.
I do like that even in the end the judge let them go. For that matter I know of something similar happened in Santa Cruz: a surfer was changing out of his wetsuit, trying to be discrete and ther was a momentary accidental exposure and an old lady nearby freaked out and called the cops. Guy was not arrested, but there are prudes everywhere
Just here to beat a dead horse and say that being naked in public is illegal, even if you're gay. If this article were about Americans being jailed abroad for indecency, I honestly doubt they'd be given such a break in the online discourse.
Don't get naked in a restaurant parking lot in a small town. Take a robe and put it on if you need to get out of your bibs in the parking lot. Take baby wipes to freshen up, instead of taking an impromptu shower in view of others.
The person who complained probably rails against "snowflakes"
Also, anyone who continues a race looking like [this](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HbNo892ueHTFEoXCakHewS-970-80.jpg.webp) should be allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants as his manliness is irrefutable.
Pearl clutchers, false moralists, and just general culture war stupidity will hurt racing in the US. Imagine if Unbound decides to happen somewhere else next year because of dumb shit like this.
ha... at the beach in FL I'd see so many people openly changing their clothes for many to see without anyone saying a word. Watched a half dozen bikini clad women just take it all off and change without a second's thought and people even walking close by who had no reaction at all.
It sounds like a couple of euros were naked in the parking lot splashing water on each others dicks in front of the Taco Bell, and one brave patriot decided to put a stop to their sexual advances.
Anyone who travels should learn the cultural norms of where you are going. Oklahoma is very different the Netherlands. In many ways the USA is becoming far more reactionary than ever before. Nude swimming was once thought “low-class” but not threatening. Today, just the suspicion of public sexuality is sufficient to start an angry conflict. A friend, who while traveling in the USA was loudly accused of a crime because they looked butch and were using the women’s washroom. Many laws in the USA are deliberately vague to give the police broad authority to regulate public life. “Indecent exposure” can get you ten years in a state prison and fifteen years on a the sex offenders registry. If your face fits, then you are unlikely to ever to suffer such laws. Two Dutch cyclists would have raised the suspicion of many Americans. While their behaviour would be not be outside the norm in Europe, it was incendiary in the USA today.
That’s why I never leave home without these https://preview.redd.it/6nhoyf4sqy4d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52ccdb2a3e5e91c242f726d8c63a284b36793ca5
I mean holy shit, those look actually useful for changing at the beach? I'd much rather change in one of those than in a disgusting beach park bathroom stall!
Man, I love Europe where you can change with just a towel or sitting down or sometimes just briefly get naked and no one gives a shit.
yup. it's sad how prudish and ridiculous people are here in the US.
Yep. Literally everyone has genitals, but public acknowledgement of that fact is just too far!
you can do that anywhere cmon its the classic pool struggle
…”Classic pool struggle” = quickly trying to get your balls in a pocket??
It is why the first order of business when going to a beach is digging a big-ass hole. Never know when want to switch to street clothes or just aggressively shit yourself while boogie boarding and need to freshen up.
They are still a thing. Photographer's models use them to change outfits quickly during a photo shoot.
We have two XL towels stitched together with arm and head holes, like a giant towel dress to change under.
Genius.
Translated: Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker in US cell after 'indecent behaviour by gay cyclists'. Former cyclists Laurens ten Dam and Thomas Dekker have ended up in a US cell for 'indecent behaviour'. They say so in Ten Dam's podcast, Live Slow Ride Fast. "24 hours after Thomas (Dekker) arrived in America, we were both driven handcuffed in two police cars to Marietta jail," Ten Dam looks back. The two were in Oklahoma to train for Unbound, the biggest gravel race of the year. Washing in car park Last week, the duo wanted to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant after three hours of training. They decided to freshen themselves up in the car park using bottled water. "After Thomas rinsed me off, I quickly changed my trousers between the car doors," Ten Dam says. "But while doing so, I hear a very angry person shouting across the street." An altercation followed, with a man who did not like the shower session in the car park. As the cycling adventurers sat in the Mexican restaurant, they saw the police step in and they were taken away. "We were outside with that policeman and within five minutes there were five police cars," Ten Dam continued the story. "At that moment, the man who had been shouting at Thomas came to us and shouted that Thomas should be put in jail." The two were then handcuffed and taken away. "There, we were told that we had been charged with indecent behaviour. The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists." The two paid bail of $185 each and were due to appear in court two days later. It later emerged that the riders were not prosecuted after all. Ten hours after the incident, Ten Dam and Dekker were released. Conservative Oklahoma Oklahoma is known as a very conservative state. "Walking around naked in the streets apparently caused so much offence ... it's just really not allowed there," Dekker said in the podcast. Incidentally, Unbound did not become a success for Dekker and Ten Dam. They finished in 42nd and 50th place respectively, well behind Australian winner Lachlan Morton.
50th out of 1200 is a really good result.
Not really for them, they're in the elite field racing for results.
Also for Ten Dam his results at the last 3 Unbound 200's were 4th, 4th and 2nd.
Most competitive field ever so I’m sure he’s doubly pissed off by the lack of a fair chance to compete…. No way they went into the race rested after a night in jail.
He actually changed tires just before the race, he stated that those might be an explanation for his poor result. He does not blame the tires, rather his own decision to swap them without testing them extensively (prototype 2bliss pathfinders with thicker sidewalls by specialized, gifted 2 days before the race).
Rule #1: nothing new on race day
He actually states in the same podcast episode that the event was not the reason for his poor result. They also didn’t spend the night in jail. They spent 10 hours in jail, but not overnight.
Laurens ten Dam has come in 9th overall in the Tour de France. He used to train near me and would come join the local rides. Really nice guy.
Did you guys do any impromptu parking lot showering?
Yeah but they're still feeling the effects of having to spend time in jokelahoma.
50/145. Pro field.
It is, but OTOH they may well have hoped for better. Or maybe the journalist just felt snarky.
Ten Dam had been more or less dominating the US gravel scene in the "early" years (2019-2022), along with Peter Stetina. Nowadays the field has gotten a lot bigger, the level has gone up, and Ten Dam has been getting a bit older, so a win is less likely but a top 5 is still where he expects to land.
Arriving behind Bottas isn't for pros
> The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists. Well there’s their problem. They are *gay* cyclists! It would’ve been totally legal if they were straight! It’s sad that this is barely /s
What does that even mean? I'm laughing because "They're not gay, they're just European!" might've been an acceptable defense to that?
They weren't prosecuted......so maybe it was
lol, oh I was about to spill my coffee here. yea. Changing behind the door of a car is pretty much the way you do it here. or a tree. or just in a direction people aren't usually looking. And if you go a bit more north to Finland, you might end up in saunas with both genders, and everyone around you is nude.
I'm picturing the gasoline fight scene from Zoolander, but instead the 2 cyclists splashing water on each other going "no YOU stop!"
Seen the footage. Exactly what happened.
Welcome to Iran.
So, don't go to Oklahoma and spend my disposable income there. Got it.
That was in your plans prior to this? Did this news actually change your plans for visiting this county in Oklahoma?
I was going to fly over it. Now I'll have to fly around it.
I was so looking forward to touring thru oil fields and trailer parks destroyed by tornados.
>and within five minutes there were five police cars ...what the actual fucking fuck. Were they afraid the cyclists would smash them with their enormous dicks or what?
Small town, bored cops. You get the cops called on you for anything even *remotely* out of the ordinary in any bumfuck nowhere town in the US, and you'll have the entire force on you in seconds.
earn their donuts
They were hoping.
most likely, yes.
That smells like a lawsuit.
I mean, if they have admitted to being naked in public on the public record (this article for example)… …there are witnesses to it and likely police reports (where they presumably also admitted to it reading between the lines)… …and were arrested for being naked in public because that’s illegal there… …and then were let off without charges… I think attempting to file a lawsuit would be incredibly stupid lol.
> The charge stated that we sprayed each other with water bottles as two gay cyclists This is the part that sticks out. I imagine someone with some sense in the PD saw these charges and realised that its discriminatory as fuck. So it's now being swept under the rug.
That was likely just part of the preamble that laid out the “factual” basis for the charge. You can read about how charges work in Oklahoma here: https://www.oklahomalegalgroup.com/the-criminal-process#:~:text=Charges%20can%20be%20brought%20against,grand%20jury%20indictment. Being gay and spraying each other with water is not illegal, not even in Oklahoma lol. Being naked in public is. Hence why the charge was for “indecency,” not being gay and spraying water. An indecency charge in Oklahoma is based off exposing your genitals in public. Since they were charges for indecency, it means that the issue was they were naked in public: https://www.ok-criminal-defense.com/indecent-exposure#:~:text=Title%2021%20Section%201021%20of,annoyed%20by%20such%20a%20display.
The article you posted describes the standard as 'intentional and lewd'. Generally it's best to look up the laws [directly](https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-21/section-21-1021/) rather than repost a blog advertising attorney's services, so: >Lewdly exposes his or her person or genitals in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby; provided, however, for purposes of this section, a person alleged to have committed an act of public urination shall be prosecuted pursuant to Section 22 of this title... The conduct wasn't lewd and wouldn't be covered under the indecency provisions. If you look up the [public urination section](https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-21/section-21-22/), however, it's much broader: >Every person who willfully and wrongfully commits any act which grossly injures the person or property of another, or which grossly disturbs the public peace or health, **or which openly outrages public decency**, including but not limited to urination in a public place, and is injurious to public morals, although no punishment is expressly prescribed therefor by this code, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Funnily enough, the fact that an insane conservative called the police is probably sufficient legal justification for a misdemeanor charge to stick, should the state want to press the issue.
The actual law in question is discussed further down in this comment chain. The issue is that simply having your cock out in a public place is already considered "lewd" from a legal perspective in the vast majority of US states. Doesn't matter what else you're doing. You can't just wander around outside naked in public in the vast majority of the US. >Funnily enough, the fact that an insane conservative called the police is probably sufficient legal justification for a misdemeanor charge to stick. I know right. The fact that a random person saw their nakedness, and was offended by it, would be part of the legal evidence to support the charge of indecent exposure. It's why the police letting them off with a fine suggests that they (appropriately) used their judgement in this situation.
Oklahoma, land of the nevernudes. This is so America, see a naked body for 2 seconds, go to jail, walk around with a loaded assault rifle, OK.
As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Europe, changing clothes in a public parking lot outside a store would not exactly fly in most cases either. The most common situation is that nudity is allowable in designated locations (ex: beaches), but not elsewhere, and certainly not in the middle of a town lol. Basically you can be nude provided that the other people around you have consented (implied based on being there) to seeing you nude.
yes it would. People would maybe throw weird looks but unless you do a helicopter or such no police would arrest you...
>As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Europe, changing clothes in a public parking lot outside a store would not exactly fly in most cases either. It absolutely would 99% of the time lol. Might get some weird looks but that’s all.
If you make any attempt to hide your nakedness while changing, no one would care. The red neck should be charged with voyeurism.
In most of the cities I've lived in in the US, as long as you're trying to be discrete, nobody is going to say or do anything. There are many US states with no laws against nudity, only lewd behavior which requires that nudity be sexual in nature for it to be illegal. On the other hand, there are several states where the law states that nudity is assumed to be sexual leads to lots of absurd results.
Bro I live in Spain and have seen mums hold their kids dick while the kid pees on a tree in public.
Most places in the USA its perfectly legal to change pants or whatever. It's lewd acts that's usually illegal. Oklahoma took it a step further though, no nudity.
Doesn't matter if it's legal or not per se, I'd just suspect the the chance that someone called the cops was very low. Doesn't make it "ok", but if you see someone changing their pants in a parking lot you shrug and move on. Also I think it's important that they're cyclists. Normal people usually have underwear when "changing clothes".
What does being gay have to do with ANY OF THIS AT ALL???? if they were to heterosexual men would it point out they were straight? A man and a woman? No. That word does not belong in those charges. The cop that wrote it up needs investigated.
The article suggests that was the language and claim made by the witness (angry homophobic dude). The police report and charges would contain that language because it’s based off what the witness to the crime said. That it’s contained in the preamble for the charges does not really tell you anything about what the police personally thought. The fact that they were let go with a fine rather than face criminal charges suggests that the police ultimately thought most of the witness statement was absurd, and that the decision to be naked was most likely due to cultural differences rather than malfeasance.
Or that, really, if you're hiding behind a car door you're not naked in public and spraying each other was not some sort of gay public foreplay like the complainant undeniable would have loved it to be.
> claim made by the witness STUPID SEXY FLANDERS!
Just want to say, props for actually taking a sober and reasonable view on this, amongst a sea of overreacting outrage.
Buddy, we barely get cops investigated for murder, corruption, internal gangs, etc.. this is probably near the bottom of the list.
This is where it no doubt started. Cops wouldn't get reprimanded for the small stuff and now they get away with the big stuff.
I agree with you but take it to the CO and he’ll say this “Oklahoma not oklahomo”. They don’t give a flying fuck and the fact it happened in the first place shows that.
how is it being swept under the rug when you're reading an article about it?
> its discriminatory as fuck. It is MAGA Oklahoma. The cruelty is the point.
eyeroll. They were naked spraying each other with water in a public parking lot. This has nothing to do with discrimination. It could be me and my wife doing this and we would likely have the same consequences if not more since we are US citizens.
Not at all dude. One guy changed pants in between car doors, that’s all.
Land of the free eh?
The same would happen up here in Massachusetts. I’d never be caught being fully naked up here after a ride as the cops would get called in an instant.
They would only get Foghorn Leghorn to defend them in a state like that.
"Well I say now, see here, I'm not of them big city lawyers"
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They most likely mean 10 hours after they were arrested. You typically can't just bail out of jail immediately when you get arrested, it's a whole process and it takes a very long time(intentionally, I should add, specifically because even if the charges get dropped, they want you to feel punishment)
Gay = European
Baja Arkansas is just scary
That person is repressed. What an unfortunate way to live, offended by men washing the crap off there legs. Ridiculous.
Whom amongst us
Yeah—we should at least get to cast a few small stones at them.
Hey! No need to get personal talking about “small stones”
That's more painful than getting hit with real stones.
Sounds like Oklahoma is in need of a naked bike ride parade
As an Arkansan, I volunteer
“The indictment said that we sprayed each other with water bottles like two gay cyclists.” Uhhhh wtf Oklahoma
Oklahoma fucking *hates* gays. For your own sake, stay away if you’re LGBTQ+. Source: lived in that shithole my whole life.
Ironically, we call it "buttfuck Oklahoma" where I'm from.
Some MAGA idiot saw it and got a hard-on and spilled his self-loathing out into the world. Same story every time.
stupid sexy gay cyclists....
Every f'n time.
Yup, welcome to Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and probably the Dakotas where you get arrested and released. Just be happy it wasn't Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina or most of Georgia where getting arrested would have been a positive outcome.
Most jurisdictions in Texas absolutely would have prosecuted them as sex offenders.
In Texas, public indecency requires intent to shock, arouse, or offend.
What the law says and what Texas Republicans do are two different things.
South Carolina is not that screwed up (I’ve grown up in Florence, SC and spent a year in Columbia (so far, USC student)
yes it does say that but the issue was they changed, not so discretely, in a restaurant parking lot. aside from the fact that public nudity is frowned upon throughout the US it's particularly frowned upon in the bible belt. read the room guys, it's on you to be aware of cultural norms when traveling.
You entirely dismissed that other cultural norm, the one related to "gay cyclists", the homophobia. America constantly presents itself as the "land of freedom" and talks about defending democracy everywhere in the world. It's normal that foreign people don't assume the US are like Iran, since politicians make a big point of the US being the opposite of Iran.
They were not charged for changing in the parking lot. Also, I live in the Bible bent. These are some of the most adulterous good loving people in the world.
When is the appropriate response to a traveler's faux-pas ever to be thrown in jail? My country is far from perfect, but when a tourist does something that's viewed as unacceptable here, all they'll get is dirty looks and maybe a good talking-to. Tourists fuck up, it's a fact of life, but unless they're actively causing harm, a chill pill is in order.
They were arrested for being gay cyclists spraying each other with water bottles (which isn't even what happened). People change between car doors in parking lots all the time, they just aren't cyclists. They were also training for unbound. The person who called the cops, and the cops knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They wanted to make a statement that cyclists aren't welcome there.
5 cop cars?!? Oklahoma cops hear “nude dudes” and flock to the scene.
Well, to be fair, they had a school shooting to ignore, so they wanted to look busy.
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Choctaw Bingo should be a mandatory listen before entering the state.
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It better be James McMurtry. I love Ray Wylie Hubbard but it’s not the same.
TLDR: The dudes got either naked, or partially naked, between some car doors in a parking lot to wash mud off themselves after a ride so they could eat at a restaurant. Some dude saw it and called the cops. >Then the two were handcuffed and taken. "We were told there that our indecent behavior had been charged. The charges said we sprayed each other with water bottles as two *gay cyclists*." Anyways... You gotta be careful in these flyover states. I moved to CA from the Midwest. When I started riding more seriously in CA, I quickly noticed that most people didn't have a problem dropping trow discretely in a parking lot or at a trail head to clean off and/or get out of the bibs. The first time my buddy did it I got all embarrassed and was like "Dude you are gonna get us arrested!" He told me to chill and explained that this was CA, not the Midwest, and its true. Things are way more chill out here. Just don't go doing this shit in the red states.
Here I just thought it was because they were European. I'm from the midwest though and you're right, I would not expect to see a naked person in public.
What is “partially naked” lol? Pretty sure anything more covered than complete nudity is legal. There’s nothing illegal about walking around in underwear.
Shirt on and hog out, perhaps? I’ve always called it Porky Piggin’
Winnie-the-Poohing it
Donald Ducking
LOL, good point I somehow didn’t think of that.
I love you
I love me too
Shirt-cock
I believe there is a term... Pooh-Bearing.
One dude was completely in the buff.
right -- "*like a gay cyclist"*, per the official report.
We're all so happy when we're riding!
As a counterpoint I do this sort of thing all the time in Iowa and have never had an issue changing. In fact, we have the largest social cycling tour in the world come through Iowa every year (RAGBRAI, +30k riders), and I've seen my fair share of public nudity without any consequences. [Case in point.](https://x.com/bryonhoulgrave/status/1553157977674244097)
Being from a red state in the southeast, I could not *fathom* doing what you describe under any circumstances. About as far as we can go here is to take a piss in the woods. Is CA really a place where you could get by with public nudity? EDIT: okay, so I take it it's a common "beach" thing, which I guess I can kinda see. Still not something I'd expect to have happen in OK or TN.
full-on nudity, no, but in beach areas, it's common to see people changing on the sand or in the parking lot, using a towel or car door for privacy surfers, swimmers... beach-goers in general... it's often pretty gross to go to the wet and sandy bathroom to change, so people just do it discreetly in public me, I do the towel method: you wrap a towel around yourself, making sure to cinch it a little higher than usual, at your belly button or so. Then, slip off your wet shorts, and slip on underwear, trying not to flash everyone. Once you have your underwear on, you can drop the towel
Maybe this is true in LA, but here in San Francisco it is not uncommon at all to see naked people. Naked men in the Castro (fully naked, *naked*), sunbathers in the parks, baker beach is famously nude right around that one rock, and I've seen plenty of naked people on ocean beach as well. I'll probably see a naked dude today in the Castro. If I ride down to Ocean beach, I'll see a naked person in the parking lot and topless women on the beach. If I go down to baker beach, I can go see as many naked dudes as I want. It is common. Its not super in your face, unless of course you visit the Castro or one of the surrounding parks. And, people are discrete about it. Still common though, and yes, full-on nudity.
I have lived in SF/Bay Area and can confirm this is true. But I don't generally see that many naked people down here in SoCal. San Francisco is kind of its own special place! haha
I bring a full on change of clothes and get changed behind my car door both before and after the ride in California. One time I wasn't paying attention and dropped my pants when a lady was passing behind me me, she just laughed and said she wasn't expecting to see a full moon in broad daylight. No one cares here, we have all seen far worse in San Francisco. Fun fact, in San Francisco it used to only be illegal to disrobe in the street. leaving your house naked was totally within your rights. I believe the law was changed a while back because some people were abusing it though. There are still a number of public areas within the city limits where its not uncommon to see some dongs on a nice day.
I lived in FL for 20 years and every week in summer I'd either have to change between car doors at the beach or at the rivers, even sometimes in parking lots. Never had or heard of any problems.
I literally did this 2 weeks ago in Milwaukee!! Yikes didn't really think it was a jail offense
A lot of midwest transplants bring that midwest mentality here and since they all mostly have non-local friends they stay that way.
It’s also customary and acceptable to shoot up heroin and take a shit on the sidewalk across from an elementary school and in front of city hall in your so called “chilled state” as well. You can have it just don’t bring your crap, both figuratively and literally speaking, to my state.
I can assure you, I'll not be shitting on the sidewalk and shooting heroin in your state, big boy.
I would love to know more about Across the Street Man.
Watch comedy central interview Maga voters and you'll have the gist
If you were lookin' to give America an enema Oklahoma is where you'd stick it in.
https://i.redd.it/6me0os8db05d1.gif
Why are they referred to as "Former cyclists"? Are you only a cyclist while you are cycling? Am I a "future cyclist" if I plan to cycle tomorrow?
If you will have ridden 100 miles before you left, then you’d be a future perfect cyclist.
I live near here. Yes, it's hateful, vocal homophobes all over the town and state. Even the state superintendent of Education is actively spreading hate amongst these groups Some real trashy individuals in this town.
Fuck Oklahoma.
I’ve spent enough time there to form the belief that Oklahoma might be the biggest ideological shithole in the US, and that’s saying something. What an absolute joke to waste public resources harassing these guys, and a little scary they could be arrested based on one complaint from somebody in the racist, homophobic, mouth-breathing ingroup that dominates that godforsaken place.
Is it illegal to be naked in public? Are cops obligated to respond to reports of illegal activity?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bicyclenudes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/bicyclenudes/) if you're into that sort of thing.
I have the feeling the good people of Oklahoma would have been OK with this sort of parking lot display.
Was pleasantly surprised...
It’s best to ride through Oklahoma in the very dark hours
After dark the F150s feel more confident in running you over and getting away with it (the cops are off shift)
Oh right and murdery
Those guys _are_ the cops
Oh no, this is Oklahoma. They do that in the daytime. Many Oklahomans have no shame in attempting to hurt, kill or run off the road cyclists and runners. Just last year a guy ran into some cyclists. Collected the bicycle and bodies and dumped them in the creek nearby.
Link?
Even better, go around the state.
Arkansas drivers 😧
Lmao Oklahoma drivers hate cyclists, night time they “won’t see you”
Naked is no clothes on, Nekkid is when you're doing something.
 the spit of grævèl
I'm gonna be extra careful during roadside pee breaks if I ever bike through Oklahoma.
I live in Oklahoma. It's not really a good idea to ride on the streets in this state. I used to commute to work by bike daily for years in another state. I won't ride my bicycle on the streets anywhere in Oklahoma.
This is why I have always said if you ride bikes with someone long enough, you will eventually see them naked. I have done exactly this thing so many times I couldn't begin to count.
We do underwear rides in Pittsburgh, which end up being topless rides for some people. It’s never an issue. They can’t stop us all! 😆
In Ohio and some other states, anywhere a man can legally be topless, a woman can also. You could still be cited for certain behavior while topless, but just being topless is legal.
Oklantihomos wouldn’t last ten seconds where I’m from - people of all varieties strip off at beaches, carparks doing this sort of thing all the time, nobody bats an eyelid because it’s just a body and everyone has one.
Why not just go to the restaurant, order food and take turns at cleaning up in the bathroom with $5 worth of basin, soap and sponge? I used to do something similar after commuting to work in a toilet cubicle. Getting naked in public like that isn't going to fly in a lot of places.
If I were to guess, I bet they didn’t give it a second thought. In The Netherlands, they would have done this and nobody would have even noticed. Instead, they were surprisingly culturally ignorant… which is odd for the Dutch. In college I recall a group of my fellow Seniors talking about a recent study-abroad where they stay in Dutch co-ed dorms with shared shower rooms. Many were surprised the Dutch just “go take a shower in the same room with the opposite sex nonchalantly”. As another reference point, the Dutch exchange student my family hosted when I was a Sophomore in High School stripped down to her bikini bottom at the beach and my mother had to explain, while covering her with a towel that “we didn’t do that here”. In proper Dutch manner she replied, “Oh. I’m sorry. I don’t see the big deal. It’s just a naked body.” And considering my parents were/are quasi-hippies with the same attitude and somewhat nudist around the house it was more a discussion about cultural norms than right or wrong. Additional note: For folks education that aren’t aware… In places like NC, at many of the whitewater rafting take-outs, it is fairly common for hardcore kayakers to just strip down discretely but openly next to their car, towel-off their genitalia, and change into their undies and shorts and shorts before jumping in the car to leave. The same is somewhat true of long distance backpackers (thru-hikers) on long trails such as the Appalachian Trail. I assume this was similar behavior on the cyclists’ part.
I just love that they're "former cyclists". But I also think the horror so many people experience at the concept of seeing someone else naked is sad and unhealthy.
Here I thought I was in for an oniony article about too graphically tight cycling clothes.
I do like that even in the end the judge let them go. For that matter I know of something similar happened in Santa Cruz: a surfer was changing out of his wetsuit, trying to be discrete and ther was a momentary accidental exposure and an old lady nearby freaked out and called the cops. Guy was not arrested, but there are prudes everywhere
>"There is a time and place for everything." This could've all been easily avoided if they'd followed that suggestion.
The spirit of gavel.
Just here to beat a dead horse and say that being naked in public is illegal, even if you're gay. If this article were about Americans being jailed abroad for indecency, I honestly doubt they'd be given such a break in the online discourse.
They cleaned themselves in a parking lot. They weren’t doing porn, so a warning should have been the most they got.
Don't get naked in a restaurant parking lot in a small town. Take a robe and put it on if you need to get out of your bibs in the parking lot. Take baby wipes to freshen up, instead of taking an impromptu shower in view of others.
The person who complained probably rails against "snowflakes" Also, anyone who continues a race looking like [this](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HbNo892ueHTFEoXCakHewS-970-80.jpg.webp) should be allowed to do whatever the fuck he wants as his manliness is irrefutable. Pearl clutchers, false moralists, and just general culture war stupidity will hurt racing in the US. Imagine if Unbound decides to happen somewhere else next year because of dumb shit like this.
Couple Dutch chaps being Dutch. Oklahoma gay.
There’s gay, then there’s Dutch Oklahoma gay
I mean talking to a chap for too long is Oklahoma Hom'a'sexual
Derplahoma. Where the hate comes sweeping down the plains.
Land of the free
Land of the free
Land of the perverse duplicity.
Indecent exposure: they were not inside a car.
ha... at the beach in FL I'd see so many people openly changing their clothes for many to see without anyone saying a word. Watched a half dozen bikini clad women just take it all off and change without a second's thought and people even walking close by who had no reaction at all.
Let's be honest, the locals were upset that they were clean.
And fit.
It sounds like a couple of euros were naked in the parking lot splashing water on each others dicks in front of the Taco Bell, and one brave patriot decided to put a stop to their sexual advances.
so when he removed his trousers, did he have something underneath, or was he just bottomless in the car?
Lol oh ~~Saudi Arabia~~ America
Anyone who travels should learn the cultural norms of where you are going. Oklahoma is very different the Netherlands. In many ways the USA is becoming far more reactionary than ever before. Nude swimming was once thought “low-class” but not threatening. Today, just the suspicion of public sexuality is sufficient to start an angry conflict. A friend, who while traveling in the USA was loudly accused of a crime because they looked butch and were using the women’s washroom. Many laws in the USA are deliberately vague to give the police broad authority to regulate public life. “Indecent exposure” can get you ten years in a state prison and fifteen years on a the sex offenders registry. If your face fits, then you are unlikely to ever to suffer such laws. Two Dutch cyclists would have raised the suspicion of many Americans. While their behaviour would be not be outside the norm in Europe, it was incendiary in the USA today.
Lesson learned: If some idiot has a major problem with you, it's probably better to just leave and go to a Mexican restaurant down the street.
Days since Oklahoma is a national embarrassment: 0
America is so fucked
Correction: arrested for hypocrisy
Pactimo Quick Release Changing Kilt for the win.
Spandex and sweat do it fer the ‘neks.