Safer Virginia certainly supports the DCR decision to change the existing absurd rule that defines two bodily functions as indecent exposure. An individual arrested for public urination or defecation by a DCR officer, even though there may have been no intentional obscene display, can be charged with indecent exposure, found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and required to register on Virginia's Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. Only two summons for urinating in public have been issued in the last three years when Virginia parks have over 10 million visitors annually; however, subjecting those citizens under the current rule to years of public humiliation on Virginia’s sex offender registry is simply punishment for the citizen and subjects his or her family to collateral consequences of that public shaming by the Commonwealth.

It is unclear why the Commonwealth would issue a summons at all when there has been no intentional obscene display, no ill intentions, and the citizen simply has to relieve himself or herself as part of their human design. It is our recommendation that the rule be stricken altogether. The voluminous sex offense laws expanded nearly every year by the General Assembly are more than adequate to address obvious obscene behavior.

Virginia parks are a national treasure. Why not accept reasonable National Park Service Backcountry Regulations permitting answering nature's call so long as it is 20 yards away from streams, trails, and roads or the commonsense Leave No Trace guideline of at least 200 feet from water, camp or trails? People should feel eager to explore Virginia's bounty, not feel scared about being charged with a crime. Assigning any criminal penalty to these two bodily functions when exercised discreetly is actually what’s obscene.