Los Angeles playground ban on lone adults would brand them as paedophiles, say critics
A proposed law banning lone adults from Los Angeles playgrounds has triggered an outcry from critics who say it would stigmatise single people as paedophiles.
Mitch O’Farrell, a city councilman, suggested the ban last month as a way to protect children from “creepy activity”. He cited drug dealing and other “disturbing behaviour” in or near playgrounds.
The law would bar adults unaccompanied by children from entering the playgrounds which dot parks around the city. The council is due to debate the proposal in coming weeks.
Critics have rounded on the idea as a nanny-state affront to single people.
“Why should the city assume that every adult without a child is a paedophile?” said a Los Angeles Times editorial . “That makes a childless adult a criminal just for being in a particular public space, which is an overreach that can lead to foolish enforcement – like ticketing people for sitting on a bench eating donuts.”
You can spin it any way you want but you are stigmatising single people who visit the park as paedophiles
Indignant comments flooded O’Farrell’s Facebook page .