coop@rdin.UUCP (Robert Cooper) (10/29/85)
Taken from NY Times, 10/27/85
SUNBATHER IS CLEARED IN PUBLIC NUDITY CASE
TITUSVILLE, Fla., Oct 26 (UPI)
- A jury says naked buttocks do not "outrage the sense of public decency" and
that ruling sent Sheriff Jake Miller of Brevard County back to reconsider
measures he had taken against nude sunbathing.
Mr. Miller ordered his deputies in June to arrest nude sunbathing at
Playalinda Beach. On June 20, they arrested Samuel Anderson, of Winter Park,
and Sara Cunningham, of Altamonte Springs, for disorderly counduct.
Miss Cunningham decided Thursday to plead no contest before Judge Lawrence
Johnson. But Mr. Anderson challenged the state law and won in a jury decision
Thursday.
His lawyer, Louis Cianfrogna, told the jury that state laws describe
disorderly conduct as acts that "corrupt public morals or outrage the sense
of public decency".
"We're talking about bare buttocks here," Mr. Cianfrogna said. "I don't
think nudity among consenting adults outrages the public anymore."
The jury took only 15 minutes to find Anderson not guilty Thursday.
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I love it!!!!!
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Robert Cooper Resource Dynamics Inc.
{philabs|delftcc}!rdin!coop 150 East 58th Street New York, NY 10155
(212) 486-9150charliep@polaris.UUCP (Charlie Perkins) (11/01/85)
============= Thanks, Robert, for this encouraging news. According to what I read in "Clothed with the Sun", Floridian nudists have recently been subjected to many unpleasant experiences at the hands of the state law enforcement agencies there. What constantly dismays me is the attitude that, because some (apparently a vocal minority) find public nudity "outrageous", "distasteful", or "offensive", we must all endure laws which I consider to be unconstitutional. I long for the day when arriving at work in the nude would be acceptable -- when going to movies or museums or sailing or dining in the nude (weather permitting!) is tolerated. I wouldn't even mind a few disdainful stares! But I feel certain that I'd be locked up or fired or beat up or generally treated inhumanely if I ever did try to do those things. And to think that these actions are, at their very heart, an affirmation that we as humans are good and worthy of respect just as we REALLY ARE! I find myself drawn to works of art that display the beauty of the human body. Surely there is nothing "intrinsically evil" about the sight of it. I suppose that the immediacy of real nude human bodies creates the apprehension, in many people, that illicit sexual energy is crowding their personal lives and that such energies must never find public expression. Certainly there is a sensual wonderfulness about nudity that mingles easily with our sexuality. But I have always found that the sensuality is very very nice in and of itself. Therefore I feel frustrated and dismayed that this wonderful part of existence is practically never available to me. It is worse than if I were suddenly required to "practically never" drink wine or eat fresh spinach salad. I'm afraid I'll die before these thoughts about nudity become common sense. -- Charlie Perkins, IBM T.J. Watson Research philabs!polaris!charliep, perk%YKTVMX.BITNET@berkeley, perk.yktvmx.ibm@csnet-relay