Wish List

[Stu2630]

Next year, there will be an election in the US. The year after, there will be one in the UK. In both countries, it looks as though there will be entirely fresh administrations, so maybe now is a good time to think about what you are going to ask these new administrations to do to increase the opportunities for nudism and remove some of the discrimination against nudists.

What do you think you have the right to demand from your legislature to make nudists' lives better?

What do you think they'll go for and what do you think they would reject out of hand?

What, if any, guarantees do you think you should be offering in return to protect people who are less than comfortable around nudity?

And how do you think you could persuade a future administration to show some interest in the case for nudism?

Stu

[Nudeinbama]

I don't have the answere for the questions proposed, but they are very good questions to think on. You have taken a lot of Flack here on this forum, but that was a very good post and well worth bringing up to the nudist community to think on.:)
Nudeinbama

[Sanslines]

Heck, the only things on the wish list are to hope for no more harassement, abuse, tickets, arrests, or closures of beaches for next year. Just keeping the status quo of beaches is hard enough.

[nudeM]

You do bring up an interesting topic, but the National elections whould't affect nudity laws on the books, as those laws are either local Government or State laws. I really don't see any changes.

[sergo or gayle]

LOL That a good one …. With the election coming up and with the amount of mud that’s going to be thrown around ,, perhaps all election should be done naked ,,
maybe that way it would be easier to clean up afterward and move on …

Simply hoping for a great year with lots of sunshine,, it’s great camping nude and away from all the daily congestion.


Smile

Sergo

[Bob S.]

I would like to see a national policy stating no state can put someone on the sex offender's registry for simply being naked. There has to be accompanying sexual behaviour.

Bob S.

[Pete Knight]

I would like to see a national policy stating no state can put someone on the sex offender's registry for simply being naked. There has to be accompanying sexual behaviour.

Bob S.
What you need is federal law that should be the benchmark for states when drafting laws, and an overhaul of the system is about due, we had the Sexual Offences Act 2003 set in place to override and/or replace some rather out dated laws, unfortunately that hasn't changed the mindset of those in the legal professions yet. It has been known for a duty lawyer to advise arrested nude walkers to accept a caution rather than go to court on charges of exposure, a caution leads to a criminal record without trial, and the laws on exposure have been repealed.

So even if you did get new laws with federal jurisdiction you'd still have to face the bias and simple mindedness of the enforcers, a change of mindset could take generations to achieve, unless there was some way to get the message across to them, which is one of the things that BN is working on at the moment.

On the subject of educating the enforcers, another area that requires a little help from our national bodies is distinguishing between perverts and nudists, when ever a report of guys parading themselves, or sporting erections, or openly masturbating, or couples performing sexual acts on public beaches is reported to the police they always go for the easy target, naturists doing nothing more than get some sun, whilst the real villains watch from the sand dunes.

Nudists should avoid the dunes, especially if it is a protected area of ecological significance, as are many of the popular beaches used by nudists, we don't help ourselves by ignoring the request to help save endangered flora and fauna, failing to comply with this simple request attracts the attention of, and annoys the rangers and wardens employed to protect the ecology of the dunes. Nudists should be responsible citizens, we should comply with simple rules designed to benefit all, for example, take your trash off the beach with you when you leave, report any anti social behaviour, and the best thing that could be done is for the regulars at any beach to set up a 'Beach Users Group' or BUG for short, over here in the UK we now have a number of beaches with BUG's that are having an effect, the best example being the Eastney Beach Group set up only two years ago but already respected by the local community and Portsmouth City Council.


Pete Knight

[Stu2630]

Sanslines

Heck, the only things on the wish list are to hope for no more harassment, abuse, tickets, arrests, or closures of beaches for next year.

If you are on a formal nudist beach, you should have every right to expect the full protection of the law. Elsewhere, if nudism is practised where it is not permitted, there should be a negotiation between the nudists and the authorities to agree the use of that place, or at least a section of that place, for nudist use. Where nudism is expressly forbidden but still attracts nudists, then signs should be erected outlining the prohibition AND indicating the nearest beach etc that nudism is permitted. Like you, I don't like to see the law used to punish people for nudism except as a very last resort and after fair warning.

BobS

I would like to see a national policy stating no state can put someone on the sex offender's registry for simply being naked. There has to be accompanying sexual behaviour.

I agree entirely. That's pretty much what we have here in the UK. If the law is to be used, it should be minor public order matters, never sexual offences.

I think nudists have an opportunity with any change of administration to make representations about what you want. You may not get everything, but what you will get will be better than nothing. I don't think it is unreasonable, for example, for nudists to ask for a law which requires every state in the US, and every coastal county in the UK, to designate at least one beach or other area for nudist use which is accessible and has all the necessary facilities, and to be maintained at public expense.

Stu

[Agde]

What do you think you have the right to demand from your legislature to make nudists' lives better?
What do you think they'll go for and what do you think they would reject out of hand?
What, if any, guarantees do you think you should be offering in return to protect people who are less than comfortable around nudity?
And how do you think you could persuade a future administration to show some interest in the case for nudism?Excellent and timely questions! I think there are two things that could usefully be "demanded" at a federal level. First is the unequivocal application of equal rights for all citizens. That means clearly adding gender to the "discrimination" list. If the president is a woman, this should be a no-brainer. Second would be a Justice Department advisory that personal attire is fundamentally a personal choice. that public funds should consequently not be wasted adjudicating disputes over personal attire including cases of little or no attire, and that such dress-code cases should be handled outside the courts and clearly differentiated from cases involving overt sexual misconduct which may occur regardless of attire.

I don't think they would accept that owners of private property are allowed to establish dress-codes without regard to adjacent private property owners.

In terms of reciprocal guarantees, there are really only two issues and one principle. The first issue involves top-free equality and nudity where local sensitivities should be respected., This means that in towns and cities, where people are in often in unavoidably close proximity, non-residents should respect whatever arrangements local residents have agreed to. This however does not mean that separate local rules may be established for men and women. The second involves complaints about "nudity" among residents. Here, all parties would agree that, while a process of discussion would be precede legal decision, the opinion of the majority (ie. by formal polling) would trump any minority wish for casual nudity to be allowed in public places, and the formal complaint of a majority of adjacent owners of private property would trump the right to casual nudity on one's own private property. The principle would be that being "nudist" could not be used as a legal argument to excuse any sexual misconduct.

I don't think any future administration would "show interest in the case for nudism" per se, but I do think there will be active interest in reducing the "tyranny of the majority" by giving a bit more breathing room to non-mainstream groups. Naturists just need to make sure they are not left off the list of those groups.

[MJ_KC]

I don't think it is unreasonable, for example, for nudists to ask for a law which requires every state in the US, and every coastal county in the UK, to designate at least one beach or other area for nudist use which is accessible and has all the necessary facilities, and to be maintained at public expense.

Stu
The primary problem that I see with this is that some states are so large that only having one designated facility would place it too far to be easily accessed by all people.

An example is the state of Kansas where I live. I live on the extreme eastern side of the state, right next to Missouri. If the facility were placed in western Kansas, it would be about a 6 hour drive at 70 mph to get there. The total area of Kansas is 82,277 sq mi (213,097 sq km) and it is only number 15 in size, so you can see the problem isn't going to be easy to solve. At least this would be a step in the right direction.