Lawmakers in San Francisco are readying to vote on whether or not public nudity should be banned from the West Coast city.
The law according to the Huffington Post, would make it illegal persons above the age of five 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.
This is a proposal from Supervisor Scott Wiener. If this law is passed, it would hit first-time law breakers with a $100 fine. 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 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, according to news oulets.
Wiener said he is merely responding to the pleas of his constituents who claim that they don't want to see naked men stroll around Castro plaza.
"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.
On the other side of the argument are the nudist themselves. McCray Winpsett a 37-year old nudist said Wiener's prohibition goes too far in undermining a tradition "that keeps San Francisco weird," but can see can see where Wiener is coming from.
"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."
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