Virginia Laws on nudity
Return to DiscussionsIn another thread,crishloftwrote:
"Actually, mere nudity is illegal at the state level here in Virginia. Unless you can prove you had a reasonable expectation of privacy, which you're not going to do in public."
I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the above statement is incorrect.
NAC has a copy of the State level indecent exposure laws here: naturistaction.org/StatesFrames/State_Laws_Frames/Virginia_Laws/body_virginia_laws.html
18.2-387 "Indecent exposure" requires the exposure to be "obscene" which is defined in18.2-372 and it requires a primarily sexual prurient motive.
Here (www.fredericksburg.com/local/man-naked-in-his-house-acquitted-of-indecency/article_14baf432-fb10-5cb3-840e-f91c614f61c6.html) is a story about a man who was arrested for being visibly nude in his house but was acquitted on appeal. From the article "Under Virginia law, indecent exposure occurs when a person intentionally makes an obscene display of his or her private parts. The law does not necessarily require the exposure to be in a public place--it allows for prosecution when the exposure occurs in a "place where others are present."" I wouldn't take legal advice from a newspaper article, but I'm sure one could look up the case and read the transcript if you wanted.
I have done some searches of the legal records, and there are several cases where people were acquitted of indecent exposure because the nudity did not meet the "obscene" requirement.
Having said/written that, many localities HAVE made mere nudity illegal. See thisstory (www.fredericksburg.com/news/nudity-rules-up-for-discussion-in-fredericksburg/article_0a39ddf3-7879-534a-a8d9-8b7321e8fe7e.html) from Fredericksburg in 2013.
P.S. Ugh. TN continues to have the worst editor I've ever dealt with. When I edited this post it stripped out all the links. And when I put them back in TN still stripped them out. Grrr!
From my research using many online legal code lookups, this is the current text of the Virginia statutes:======
18.2-387. Indecent exposure.Every person who intentionally makes an obscene display or exposure of his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where others are present, or procures another to so expose himself, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. No person shall be deemed to be in violation of this section for breastfeeding a child in any public place or any place where others are present.======I gathered this from several legit online legal sources. The bottom line to me is, yes, there is a prohibition against public nudity in Virginia at the state level. I am not a lawyer, but have a good deal of experience researching law and legal language, and am a very technical writer by past trade (lol). This statute is not completely clear about simple nudity without obscene display, imho.It uses the word "OR" several times, which in every context its used here is clear to mean that the following is not connected with the prior verbiage. As such, the meaning of 'or' in the first sentence also specifically cites exposure itself as illegal. Not just exposure with obscene display. Exposure with obscene display OR exposure in a public place. Now, I don't necessarily agree with it, but that's how I read the statute. Even so, I think there is enough poor wording of it to easily get it thrown out unless you are also being obscene. However even then, it doesn't matter to police, really. The simple fact is, you could be cited or arrested if said officer really wanted to, and you're left to proverbially "tell it to the judge". Police routinely cite or charge people with a variety of things, even if it's an unclear law, and let the court system sort it all out. Even if it were thrown out, unless you had it expunged also, the citation would be on your record. My takeaway is, yeah, nudity is illegal at the state level in Virginia (unlike Vermont). That doesn't mean I'd never do anything socially naked in VA (I swam in the James yesterday wildly:)), but, be completely certain you won't be in a public area or be seen by anyone who would take offense, or law enforcement!
I gathered this from several legit online legal sources. The bottom line to me is, yes, there is a prohibition against public nudity in Virginia at the state level. I am not a lawyer, but have a good deal of experience researching law and legal language, and am a very technical writer by past trade (lol). This statute is not completely clear about simple nudity without obscene display, imho.It uses the word "OR" several times, which in every context its used here is clear to mean that the following is not connected with the prior verbiage. As such, the meaning of 'or' in the first sentence also specifically cites exposure itself as illegal. Not just exposure with obscene display. Exposure with obscene display OR exposure in a public place.
The case law disagrees with you.See: www.dcjs.virginia.gov/cple/documents/newLaws/2014/2014_Law_Enforcement_Appellate_Update_-_Case_Summaries.pdf"Therefore, the Court found that although the defendant's behavior was "bizarre," the evidence merely proved nudity, which by itself is not sufficient to support a finding of obscenity, and is therefore not indecent exposure."And: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16465109569503128751"At common law, nudity or near nudity was never the all-important referent. The lewd nature of the conduct itself, if open and notorious, was the main characteristic of the offense. When state legislatures began codifying various subsets of this common law crime, they did not abandon its "open and notorious" characteristic."
Especially see www.openvirginialaw.com/2013/11/nudity-and-transparency/ which provides a great summary and references to applicable court rulings.Essentially, "obscene" is the primary word and all the "or" clauses depend on it. That may not be how it reads, but that is how the courts have ruled.
However even then, it doesn't matter to police, really. The simple fact is, you could be cited or arrested if said officer really wanted to, and you're left to proverbially "tell it to the judge". Police routinely cite or charge people with a variety of things, even if it's an unclear law, and let the court system sort it all out. Even if it were thrown out, unless you had it expunged also, the citation would be on your record. My takeaway is, yeah, nudity is illegal at the state level in Virginia (unlike Vermont). That doesn't mean I'd never do anything socially naked in VA (I swam in the James yesterday wildly:)), but, be completely certain you won't be in a public area or be seen by anyone who would take offense, or law enforcement!
I agree. The police can arrest you for whatever they want. The court then gets to sort things out.
The ruling associated with the following case looks like it would be a good one to review. Unfortunately it occurred in Fairfax County Circuit Court and their cases are only available via a paid site, CPAN.
www.fredericksburg.com/local/man-naked-in-his-house-acquitted-of-indecency/article_14baf432-fb10-5cb3-840e-f91c614f61c6.html
P.S. I apologize for the horrible formatting. TN's editor is the worst. (Have I mentioned that? ;))
Ah, that is good if courts have set legal precedence on the verbiage. Of course Virginia could easily change the verbiage but it's not exactly a hot button issue. And let me say -- I agree with the courts interpretation and am completely utterly in favor of the poor guy who got snagged! I'd of sued the woman who reported me! But I digress...I would say though that the location of the offense matters though. For instance, if someone were outside in a park or their yard or anywhere naked -- and not being lude or obscene, just being naked and also not being in a town or county with anti nude ordinances -- I would bet the court would have taken a different view and result. Otherwise, anyone could be naked anywhere (kind of like Vermont) on a state level, and that's certainly not the case.
But let me ask another question -- if on federal land in Virginia, and not in a town/county with an ordinance, wouldn't that mean there was no law to allow you to be cited?
The state of Virginia has many, many idiotic and stupid processes and rules in my opinion, even aside from this issue! From their nazi-ish enforcement of traffic laws to their yearly car tax, to their taxes on prepared food, backwards alcohol laws, insane tolling in NOVA, and awful road signage....(I'm from Maryland haha).
PS--yes, the editor is AWFUL!!! There's a lot of bugs in this site that could easily be fixed and I see no reason to ever pay pretty steep fees just for the lackluster that it already is. Not hating on you TN, just saying:)
18.2-387. Indecent exposure.Every person who intentionally makes an obscene display or exposure of his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where others are present, or procures another to so expose himself, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. No person shall be deemed to be in violation of this section for breastfeeding a child in any public place or any place where others are present.
So then can my fully fenced in yard, that my neighbors on either side and perhaps behind can look down on from the second story of their houses, still be interpreted as 'any place where others are present?' Or is that then irrelevant if I am not making an 'obscene' display or exposure of my person? I also feel that the risk and potential for arrest or citation and the prospect of a court appearance is not worth it, however lamentable that situation might be. I suppose it would be best to approach my neighbors and discuss their feelings about mere nudity to gauge whether they would be likely to call the authorities or not, and to show that I am willing to respect their feelings about my being naked in my own yard, again, as counter-intuitive as that might be in the land of the 'free.'
Here's the section on 'Public Nudity' from my town code, from the Article of 'Offenses Against Morals and Decency' (lol), which differs slightly from the Virginia code (and which I interpret as being more conservative/restrictive than said Virginia code):
It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally appear in public, or in a public place or in a place open to the public or open to public view, in a state of nudity, or to employ, encourage, or procure another person to appear so. No person shall be deemed to be in violation of this section for breastfeeding a child in any public place or any place where others are present.
It's the 'open to public view' section that is the concern in my opinion.
The way I understand it is that the Feds generally allow the states to choose whether or not to enforce local laws on federal land. I've looked at the laws for George Washington NTL Forest, Jefferson NTL forest, and, and Monongahela. They all state specifically that nudity is forbidden within the national forest :(
Here's the section on 'Public Nudity' from my town code, from the Article of 'Offenses Against Morals and Decency' (lol), which differs slightly from the Virginia code (and which I interpret as being more conservative/restrictive than said Virginia code):It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally appear in public, or in a public place or in a place open to the public or open to public view, in a state of nudity, or to employ, encourage, or procure another person to appear so. No person shall be deemed to be in violation of this section for breastfeeding a child in any public place or any place where others are present.
Right. The kicker is that localities can pass their own laws which are more restrictive than the state law. So you have to know the rules for where you're at.
The above ordinance is interesting because it does not seem to cover female toplessness. Somewhere in the code there may be a definition of 'nudity' that includes exposure of the female nipple, and areola. But without that, I wonder how small an amount of clothing one could get away with.
How do we identify a state lawmaker willing to make the law less restrictive to general nudity?
Never happen. VA is still religiously "conservative". There is no upside (read $$$ and/or reelection) for a state rep. to be pro-nudity. In FL, AANR tried to work with some lawmaker and was flat out told to contribute a bunch of money to his campaign and then maybe he'd care about their issues. So unless we can get something like a nudist PAC, the politicians won't hear us.