Bodycam shows arrest of Alabama woman wearing penis costume at protest
By: Fairhope, AL - Newly released bodycam footage shows a Fairhope police colonel confronting and arresting a 61-year-old grandmother dressed in an inflatable penis costume during a protest last month.
The footage, provided to AL.com by Renea Gamble’s legal team, captures Col. Andrew Babb telling Gamble her costume would not be tolerated in a “town that has values.”
“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you,” Babb says in the video. “If my kids came by here to see this, how would I explain this?”
Gamble responds, “Are you recording?”
Babb replies, “How would you explain to my children what you are supposed to be? This is a family town. I’m not going to have someone out here dressed like this. It’s abusive.” He later adds, “I would hate for her grandkids to see her like this.”
Gamble’s attorneys filed a 13-page brief seeking dismissal of misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest based on the camera footage. The filing argues the arrest violated her First Amendment rights as she was engaged in political protest during the Oct. 18 “No Kings” demonstration along Greeno Road.
The case is being heard in Fairhope Municipal Court and is due for trial on Jan. 6, 2026.
The arrest and images of a grandmother in an inflatable penis costume have generated national media attention, including being featured by late-night comedian Stephen Colbert.
The court filing cites several examples of offensive public spectacles that Americans have tolerated in the past. The list included Nazis marching through a town of Holocaust survivors to Ku Klux Klan cross burnings, flag‑destroying protesters and the Westboro Baptist Church disrupting military funerals.
Those examples, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, were cited as why charges against Gamble should be dismissed.
“Can one deny that each of these actions would be more offensive to more people than a protester in an anatomically imprecise phallic costume?” wrote attorneys David Gespass and Kathleen Johnson in the court brief.
Gamble’s offense, according to court documents, was wearing a cartoonish penis costume purchased at a Spirit Halloween store in Foley and worn during the protest alongside Greeno Road in Fairhope. The filing notes it was the last inflatable penis costume available at the seasonal store.
“Until (police) arrived, no one present appeared so offended by Ms. Gamble’s costume as to be ready to fight over it,” the court filing reads. “If anything, it was aimed at Donald Trump, who was in no position to begin fisticuffs as he was, by all accounts, nowhere near Fairhope.”