Time to cover up: San Francisco's proposed ban on public nudity sparks naked protests

Famously freewheeling San Francisco may no longer be a city where anything goes, including clothing.

City lawmakers are scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would ban nudity in most public places -- a move that's caused outraged amongst the city's many nudie devotees.

Soon it could be illegal for anyone over age 5 to 'expose his or her genitals, perineum or anal region on any public street, sidewalk, street median, parklet or plaza' or while using public transit in San Francisco.

Baring it all: a man protesting a city ban on public nudity undresses at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco

The push to prohibit nudity came about after a two-year argument between the supervisor who represents the gay Castro District.

Supervisor Scott Wiener said he felt compelled to act after constituents complained about the naked men who gather in a small Castro plaza most days and sometimes walk the streets au naturel.

He persuaded his colleagues last year to pass a law requiring a cloth to be placed between public seating and bare rears, yet the complaints have continued.

'I don't think having some guys taking their clothes off and hanging out seven days a week at Castro and Market Street is really what San Francisco is about. I think it's a caricature of what San Francisco is about,' Wiener said.

The proposed ban predictably has produced outrage, as well as a lawsuit.

Last week, about two dozen people disrobed in front of City Hall and marched around the block.

McCray Winpsett, 37, said he understands the disgust of residents who would prefer not to see the body modifications and sex enhancement devices sported by some of the Castro nudists.

But he thinks Wiener's prohibition goes too far in undermining a tradition 'that keeps San Francisco weird.'

'A few lewd exhibitionists are really ruining it for the rest of us,' he said.

'It's my time to come out now to present myself in a light and show what true nudity is all about so people can separate the difference between what a nudist is and an exhibitionist is.'

Outspoken believer: McCray Winpsett, 37, is an avid nudist supporter in San Francisco

Because clothes are required to enter City Hall itself, demonstrators who try to disrobe at the Board of Supervisors meeting will be escorted out by sheriff's deputies.

San Francisco lawyer Christina DiEdoardo filed a federal lawsuit last week on behalf three men that seeks to block Weiner's ordinance, if it passes and is signed by Mayor Edwin Lee.

The complaint alleges that the ban infringes on the free speech rights of nudists and discriminates against those who cannot afford to obtain a city permit.

 

No place to hide: Scott Weiner will face plenty of public opposition Tuesday when officials vote at City Hall (right) on a ban on public nudity. Sheriffs plan to escort at the hearing who tries to strip in protest from the building

While it may seem strange that going out in the buff is not already illegal in San Francisco, most Califoia cities do not have local nudity laws, Wiener said.

'I suspect there are a lot of places that maybe don't currently have a local law (and) that if people started getting naked every day would quickly see a local law,' Wiener said.

If Weiner's ban is passed, the violators will face a maximum penalty of a $100 fine for a first offense.

But prosecutors would have authority to charge a third violation as a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and a year in jail.

Exemptions would be made for participants at permitted street fairs and parades, such as the city's annual gay pride event and the Folsom Street Fair, which celebrates sadomasochism and other sexual subcultures.