Protests - Part 52

San Francisco, Jan-Feb 2013

On Jan. 27, 2013, a group of people in San Francisco staged a naked protest against the upcoming nudity ban.  The previous year, Scott Wiener, one of the members of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors (the city council) pushed through a new law banning public nudity, with a few exceptions for nude beaches and certain street fairs and festivals if they got a permit.

The ban was scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 1, 2013, a few days after this protest.  Previously, quite a few San Francisco residents walked around town naked, and nobody seemed to mind – nobody except Supervisor Scott Wiener.

Above, one of the protesters holds a sign showing famous nude artworks like Michelangelo's David.  His point?  Nudity is not obscene.

Two more of the protesters.  The protest was held right outside City Hall.

This guy arrived on a bike, took off his pants ...

and joined the protest.  His tattoo says "In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni," a Latin quote from a poem by the Roman poet Virgil.  It means "We go round and round in the night and are consumed by fire."  Not only is it a classical quote, but it's a palindrome – it reads the same backwards and forwards.  I'm not a big fan of tattoos, but I'm impressed.

This guy was one of the protesters, but he also brought his camera and took pictures of the others.

This protester's hat says "Recall ...

Wiener," the guy responsible for the anti-nudity law.

And here's Gypsy Taub, the de facto leader of the pro-nudity movement, with our "Recall Wiener" friend behind her.

Here's one last shot of the group of protesters.

Five days later, on February 1, the anti-nudity law went into effect.  A few of the pro-nudity protesters showed up publicly naked to test the new law.  Above, Gypsy Taub tells the media, "If they don't arrest me, I'll be disappointed."  She was not disappointed.  The cops showed up and arrested her.

George Davis, another prominent pro-nudity activist, also showed up on Feb. 1.

Sure enough, the police arrested him and took him into custody.

And Trey Davis was also interviewed naked by the media.  On his back was written "War is obcsene not my body."  His spelling needs some improvement ...

but not his body, in my opinion.  He explained to the media why he was protesting ...

and then the police took him into custody, too.