TopFreedom

Into the 1930’s, men were often arrested, even at parks and beaches, for ‘indecent exposure’ for uncovering their chests. Today, shirtless men are a common sight at the beach, in parks, or just cutting the grass. No problem. But women?

In 1992, seven women who had been arrested in Rochester, New York six years earlier for holding a topfree picnic, won a long-fought victory for female equality when New York State’s highest court ruled (People v. Santorelli & Schloss) that New York could not legally discriminate against women by refusing them the right to remove their tops, whenever men were permitted the same right.

In 2005, four women in upstate New York were arrested while eating ice cream in a park, because they were topfree. (So were their male companions, of course.) They spent hours in jail, and the prosecutor decided to ignore the case law of Santorelli and prosecute anyway. Although the women eventually prevailed, it was not without the loss of considerable time and money on legal costs.

It could be worse–

In 1996, Kayla Sosnow was arrested in Florida for removing her shirt in the Osceola National Forest during a Rainbow Gathering. (No one complained, other than the arresting officer.) She spent three humiliating days in jail before seeing a judge, and seventeen more days in jail because of bail demands. Eventually sentenced to time served, six months probation, 50 hours of community service, and $600 in fines and costs, her conviction was overturned after a four-year legal battle. Read Kayla's story.

In 2003, ten Florida women, including a descendant of female rights’ pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Kayla Sosnow, and B.E.A.C.H.E.S.’ Executive Director Shirley Mason, brought a suit in the Federal courts for topfree equality. This was only after the Florida courts had ruled in an earlier suit that the equal protection provisions regarding gender voted into the Florida constitution in 1998 did not require strict scrutiny. (Such scrutiny standards are essentially judicial assumptions that some forms of discrimination are less harmful than others. Interestingly, gender is usually accorded a lower consideration than religion or national origin. Read more on judicial scrutiny) The case was dismissed in the Federal courts due to a dubious legal technicality, that the federal suit added new arguments not present in the state suit. The plaintiffs were provided pro bono legal assistance by attorneys Lisa Kuhlman Tietig & Mark Tietig in both state and federal suits, with the ACLU backing the state suit.

In 2003, Liz Book was arrested in Florida for removing her shirt during the Daytona bike week. (There were, of course, many shirtless men present.) The city delayed her trial for several years, leaving her in a legal limbo, although the charges were dismissed in 2005. She was as one point barred from visiting her daughter’s school because of the arrest.

In 2005, several women, including Kayla Sosnow and Shirley Mason, held a topfree protest in Daytona in support of Liz Book. This time, the protesters obtained permission from the City of Daytona to stage a topfree protest under the protections of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Yet five women were still arrested, including Shirley Mason and Kayla Sosnow, under the pretext that their protest interfered with traffic. They were convicted and sentenced to pay a fine. An appeal was to be filed, but through mishap the deadline for appeal expired.

In 2005, Liz Book was again arrested for posing topfree with topfree statues in Daytona. She was acquitted in 2006 on First Amendment grounds.

B.E.A.C.H.E.S.’ Topfreedom Fund supports legal cases that challenge institutional, legal and cultural discrimination against women that prevent them from removing their tops in places and situations where men are not prevented from doing so. Contributions support legal case costs, expert witnesses, professional research and opinion polls, funding academic studies, legal costs, and costs for plaintiffs and lawyers to travel to court hearings, speaking engagements, & media events. Funds may also be used to support women's health issues.