The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide whether to allow the fast-growing popularity of urban nakedness in the city outright.
City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance proposed by Supervisor Scott Wiener that would prohibit nudity in most public places. If passed, it will become illegal to for anyone over the age of five to expose their genitals, perineum or anal region in public, The Atlantic Wire reports. The law would come with exemptions such as nudists are allowed to shed their cloths on parades and other festivals like the city's Bay to Breakers foot race and the Folsom Street Fair.
"We've always had random and sporadic public nudity in San Francisco, and no one had a problem with that," said Wiener. "In the last two years, things have changed. In the Castro, in particular, we now have men who take their clothes off and hang out every day of the week, and that has caused a lot of anger and frustration in the neighborhood."
Public nudity was not always so bothersome for the exceptionally tolerant San Francisco City residents; but, the burgeoning popularity of public nudity has become a nuisance of late, especially after naked men are often spotted in sidewalks and seen holding congregations at a city plaza. In an earlier ruling, naturists were ordered to place something between their bare bottoms and the public seating.
The move has drawn severe criticism from pro-nudism activists who held a series of nude protests on the steps of City Hall and around the city.
