We don't have enough political power to make that happen. The primary reason we lack political power is our reluctance to identify ourselves as naturists and demand our rights.
It's going to be much more simple to choose places with few laws and vague laws, or thin resources and take over a town, county or state council and bring changes to zoning, bylaw, enforcement and permitting so the legal reasons for local authorities to stop, harass or police nudist organizations and spaces are removed or mitigated. The main issue is complaints from people who see, or think they see, or think they know there might be naked people around somewhere. Signage, careful privacy structures like fences, hedges, buildings and woods between a naturist space and roads, homes, etc. with a clear amount of property as a buffer, good rules and regulation, membership structure and regular liaison with local authorities so that they can get resolution or response without rolling out and into the space or spaces, as well as a not for profit aspect that gives back to the community in material terms are some ways to keep a space open and problem free.
Some states have courts that ruled women cutting through a private yard to get to the street on the other side easier who saw the resident of the home naked deserved restitution because of indecent exposure, and this actually flies in the face of the jurisprudence in most places which holds that those who look inside houses should not be looking inside houses and if they do, the sights they see are easily avoided by not looking. In England there are two recent rulings that support nudism in the garden or the yard of the home as private and therefore not indecent. There have also been cameras set up on poles deliberately to get footage of nudists otherwise out of sight and because they were police and therefore civic property they were deemed to be the public eye...and this was used to try to shut down a nudist home hosting events. It may have done so, I don't remember that detail.
These kinds of local bylaw and state laws take years and years even once a scotus ruling is in place, and as I said, there is no legal challenge the court will hear on this having ruled already against the speech argument. The point about power is not insignificant either, for example polygamy is practiced in Utah still even though it is illegal nationally. There is too much local power and support for very hardcore Mormon beliefs and influence for any federal attempt to change this practice to be effective or even wise.
We don't have enough political power to make that happen. The primary reason we lack political power is our reluctance to identify ourselves as naturists and demand our rights.It's amazing how we are so accepting of unnatural sexual acts between people of the same gender, yet so afraid of admitting we enjoy the freedom of natural nudity.
Apparently you have not accepted that at all. And to be perfectly honest, I don't think you're qualified to comment given the virulence you usually reserve for sex topics.
As I understand it nudity has been officially declared a "state of dress" and specifically not "a statement."
In practical terms, this means that as a state of dress and not a statement, it is not protected by the 1st Amendment.
So, why is nudity permitted during such events as the World Naked Bike Ride, Gay Pride Parades, and other such things? Those events are forms of protest and demonstration, which are protected by the 1st Amendment. More importantly, cities and municipalities are concerned that if they prohibit nudity at or during such events, then it will provide fodder for a test-case in court.
In such a situation, the court may very well rule that nudity is a statement and not merely a form of dress. If the trial court does find that nudity is a statement, then nudity can no longer be prohibited within the jurisdiction of that court. That would embolden others to try being nude in other jurisdictions for the sake of creating test cases in other jurisdictions.
Regardless of the decision of the lower (trial) court, it will most certainly be appealed -- by one side of the other. Although it's illegal to venue shop, nothing stops you from intentionally pushing the boundaries in a jurisdiction where you believe your case will receive a favorable decision. Appeals, naturally, end at the Supreme Court. If SCOTUS says nudity is an expression, then there go all of the anti-nudity laws all across the country. Few cities and states want this.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to allow nudity during protests, demonstrations, and parades.
Just conjecturing here, but perhaps an avenue of attack would be to have entrants in city parades promoting issues along the lines of World Naked Bike Ride or as some other form of protest or demonstration. Very likely, the parade organizers would refuse to allow that entrant into the parade. And that would be OK because it would provide standing for a court case.
Religious Discrimination and the Law
Another line of attack against anti-nudity laws might be from the religious perspective.
I'm a barefooter. In situations where I've been told I had to don shoes -- where shoes (or lack thereof) were truly not a real issue, I have intoned the magical incantation: My sincerely held religious beliefs prohibit me from wearing shoes. I have only used that on rare occasions. I doesn't always work. To fight it when it doesn't work would take a lot of time and effort. In such cases, I simply stop spending my money in those places. I'm sure they think they've won, but I quit spending my money there and tell others to do the same.
I wonder whether anyone has ever tried that for nudity.
maybe the politicians would tell the truth if was naked bet not near as many be running for prez if had to stand up naked campaigning LOL
This had me picturing congressional chambers filled with naked politicians debating some proposed legislation . I have a feeling congressional politics would be quite different.
I could'nt agree more with you!
However nudists are poorly organised and have little international contacts.
Here in Belgium for example the official nudist organisation is only interested in recruting new members for their own clubs and their own profits.
Some weeks ago I have been in a television schow "Gert Late Night" with the representative of "Athena" the Belgian nuturists organisation, The lady could'nt even tell the diverence between "naturist" and "nudist".
The only explanation she could give was that a nudist was a person with a bad reputation!?
It's a nice thought but here's why it's not going to happen anytime soon:
1: Not enough nudists are open about their participation in the lifestyle so we appear to be a very small subset of the population
2. People aren't open about addressing nudity in a non-sexual way - a large number of people here are honest in the fact that they do not share their lifestyle choice of nudism outside of nudist circles
3. We are too fractured as a group; we chat and socialize with those like us and not all others (particularly based on gender, orientation and marital status), and until we unify and support one another we can't lead a charge forward as a group
My suggestion is to accept and support all other nudists and to take strides in a local arena first, and then maybe we'll get there one day...
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