A petition launched on the citizens action website Petition2Congress.com has called for the prosecution of Sierra McGrone, AKA Nocturnus Libertus an extreme feminist activist who recently appeared on the GonzoToday affiliate radio program The Great American Circus to discuss and debate womens rights.
McGrone went viral on Facebook Friday after she posted a photograph of herself wiping her naked rear with an American flag.
Since that time McGrone has faced numerous death threats, outrage from veterans groups across the nation as well as some support by others who have spoken out for her freedom of speech and taken their own photographs.
McGrone has agreed to an interview with GonzoToday news editor and host of Great American Circus, Kidman J. Williams on Monday to get her side of this fast growing controversy.
The petition calls for federal prosecution of McGrone under United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1 which lays out the federal protocols for the U.S. flag. Within those protocols such desecration of the flag is strictly forbidden and punishable by law.
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If found guilty she could be punished by fines and up to one year in jail. The section of US code that would apply to her case reads:
(1) Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon any flag of the United States shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
The problem that prosecutors would face in this case deals with a general long standing disregard for the flag rules which among other things forbids the flag being printed on articles of clothing, stickers and also strictly forbids countless other traditions which for the past decade have seen mass consumerism and misuse of the flag within American merchandising across the board.
McGones attorney, if this thing actually results in a prosecution, would likely argue that this case is an unbalanced and unfair application of the law and would argue that in order for McGrone to be fairly prosecuted the federal government would also have to prosecute every store and business from Wal-Mart to your local corner store which sells American flag printed lighters and keychains.
Veterans with american flag emblazoned american pride shirts would be no exception to this general violation of Title 4 flag etiquette. Most of the rules which might apply to McGrone are found in subsection 8 which can be found here.
Currently the petition has resulted in only 484 letters to Congress, but the coming days could put some pressure on federal officials to examine the matter.
More on this story soon.