SF Nudity Ban Proposed by Liberal, Gay Supervisor 'We are Tolerant But There Are Limits'
A nudity ban was introduced Tuesday in San Francisco by the city's Supervisor Scott Wiener after he claims the city has gone from occasional public nudity to what he described as a "a near-daily nudist colony."
The ban on public nudity was introduced for approval to the Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Wiener, who is a self-proclaimed liberal and gay, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The ban "prohibits the display of genitals and buttocks in city plazas, parklets, sidewalks, streets and on public transportation. The legislation isn't all-encompassing; being naked will still be legal at festivals and parades, nude beaches and on private property," reports the Huffington Post.
In a statement to the Post, Wiener pictured the nudist situation as out of control.
"While most people in San Francisco, myself included, have no problem with occasional public nudity, we've seen a shift in public attitude because of the over-the-top situation at Jane Warner Plaza and elsewhere in the Castro," Wiener said in a statement.
"Until recently, public nudity in our city was mostly limited to various street festivals and beaches as well as the occasional naked person wandering the streets. What's happening now is different," he explained.
"Jane Warner Plaza is the only usable public space in the Castro and serves as the neighborhood's town square. Use of this small but important space as a near-daily nudist colony, while fun for the nudists, is anything but for the neighborhood as a whole."
"We are a tolerant neighborhood and city, but there are limits," he added.
But Weiner is facing opposition from the nudists. Some nudists are labeling the proposed ban as "an attack on freedom" and others have somehow turned it into an issue of gay rights, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"This is not a gay issue," said Wiener. "It is actually demeaning to the civil rights we have fought for to say this has anything to do with taking your pants off in public."