San Francisco Nudity Ban
In San Francisco, non-sexual, non-offensive public nudity had always been perfectly legal. Some people in the Castro district, San Francisco's gay quarter, walked around naked in public, and nobody seemed to mind.
Then in 2011, Board of Supervisors member Scott Wiener tried to stop that. The Board of Supervisors is the city's legislative body. Wiener proposed a city ordinance banning nudity in restaurants and requiring naked people to put something between themselves and public seating, like sitting on a towel or a newspaper on a bus or a park bench. Castro district nudists organized a protest called a nude-in (above).
Here they are with a few more supporters. Their signs read "Nudity is not a crime", "Every body is beautiful", and "I'll be on TV because I'm naked." (That last one, by the guy in the hat, was probably not very helpful to the cause.)
In 2012, Wiener went further and proposed a ban on all public nudity, with exemptions for nude beaches and for popular public events that had permits such as the World Naked Bike Ride and the Folsom Street Fair. Another nude-in was organized. These signs read "Frisco-ing: that means I'm naked in public", "Nude is not lewd", and my favorite, carried by the blond guy, "My naked butt is cleaner than your pants."
This time the protesters marched to the steps of City Hall.
This guy tried to persuade the politicians with his sign "Naked people vote." It didn't work. The Board of Supervisors passed the ban on public nudity.
This sign expresses the irony that the guy banning the pubic display of wieners was named Wiener.
Protests against the nudity ban continue. This demonstration was in 2016. One of the protesters, in addition to his "Body Freedom" sign, thought a nude protest would be a good opportunity to advertise himself as "Hot and single." Ah, well. It's San Francisco.
5 comments:
fabulous!
I remember the vote being taken on that. It made news here in Sin City...as if this place allowed nudity itself. Ha! It's really sad to see nudity made to seem lewd and obscene. Is it okay to say "Weiner is a dick!"?
In a restaurant it's a public health issue tho.
Now let's get as worked up about the city's gentrification problem.
I found this very interesting.
My niece worked in SF during the time nudism was permitted in public. She told me that whenever a naked man sat down on one of the seats just outside her shop, the staff was required to thoroughly disinfect the seat after he left. Some men were rather deficient in terms of personal hygiene. They never brought anything to sit on, and too often left shit stains on the seats they had used. THAT was one of the reasons why SF banned public nudity after a while.
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