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 | | From: | sufaud | | Subject: | LAT: Woman Promotes the Right to Go Topless | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 15:06:31 +0000 |
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 | Los Angeles Times
Woman Promotes the Right to Go Topless
An attorney crusades to change the law because it treats male and female
sunbathers differently. A ruling in a Megan's Law case adds urgency.
By Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writer
January 22, 2005
SACRAMENTO ‹ As a Ventura County public defender, Liana Johnsson has handled
many life-changing cases, but her biggest public crusade these days has been
going topless.
For months, Johnsson has been fighting to allow topless women at California
beaches and parks, and now the issue has made its way to the Capitol.
A group of lawyers, at Johnsson's request, has asked the Legislature to make
topless sunbathing legal, saying the ban is the last criminal sanction that
treats women differently than men.
The new movement has urgency: Because of a December court ruling, Johnsson
and other attorneys contend, women convicted of indecent exposure could find
themselves listed as offenders under Megan's Law, alongside rapists and
child molesters.
"At some point, men's breasts became liberated and women's didn't," Johnsson
said Friday. "This is the only thing left that men are legally allowed to do
and, for women, they have to register as a offender. The real issue is
there should be equal protection under the law."
The office of state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said women should not be
concerned about being identified as offenders, given that California law
considers topless sunbathing to be indecent but not lewd. Lawmakers may soon
be tackling the issue to remove any chance of misinterpretation by local
prosecutors.
Before her idea reached Sacramento this week, Johnsson presented her
arguments to more than 400 delegates at an October bar association
convention. She flashed images on a screen of the big-breasted male evildoer
from "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," as she spoke.
Johnsson ‹ who wears a pink badge that reads, "I support breast equality" ‹
also has produced a two-minute video featuring obese men with large breasts
lounging on California beaches, proof, she said, that the law is not applied
equally to men and women, as required by the U.S. Constitution.
After a bit of tittering followed by a plea to protect children, the
lawyers' group approved a resolution asking that the criminal codes
forbidding topless sunbathing be removed. Lobbyists for the Conference of
Delegates of California Bar Associations said they expect a lawmaker next
week to introduce the bill Johnsson seeks, although an author and details of
the proposal have not been decided.
The issue goes beyond topless sunbathing. The conference lobbyist, Randy
Perry with Aaron Read & Associates, questioned whether fraternity boys
mooning out a car window or golfers caught urinating in the woods would also
be required to register as offenders now, if convicted of indecent
exposure.
"What we're talking about is common sense," said Perry.
He noted that since California legalized public breastfeeding in 1998, the
only area of the law exclusively targeting women has been topless
sunbathing.
Perry said the 2005 bill would either exempt topless women from Megan's Law,
make topless sunbathing an infraction instead of a misdemeanor or let judges
decide whether to require offender registration.
In an Orange County case last month, a state Court of Appeal ruled that
anyone convicted of misdemeanor indecent exposure must be listed as a
offender under Megan's Law. The databank recently was placed on the
Internet, so people can search it for offenders.
The court said including indecent exposure offenders is not cruel and
unusual punishment because Megan's Law is not technically a "punishment" but
simply a regulatory tool. Lawyers in the case said trial judges and
prosecutors should have the discretion to decide, but the court took that
away.
"Can you imagine the burden on police to now have to track all these
people?" asked Carol E. Lavacot, the Orange County public defender who
challenged the ruling in the 4th Appellate District. "It's a way overboard
decision."
It's extremely rare for women to be convicted of misdemeanor indecent
exposure for going topless or, as the law currently reads, exposing "any
portion of the breast at or below the upper edge of the areola of any female
person."
Officials at the California Department of Parks and Recreation say it has
not been a priority for them to cite women at its 278 parks and beaches.
California has dozens of unofficially designated nude beaches and rivers,
including the popular Black's Beach near San Diego, where people lie about
in the nude, mostly without interference from police or rangers.
"Our rangers ‹ how can I put this? ‹ are very busy," said Joe Rosato, a
parks department spokesman. "It's a low, low priority. Instead, what the
rangers do is ask the women to put their tops on, and usually it's 100%. If
there are any indecent exposures, it's more of a flasher or someone jumping
out of bush exposing themselves."
For its part, the state attorney general's office said Megan's Law would
apply only if the woman has "lewd intent" ‹ and topless sunbathing is not
normally considered lewd. In addition, they said, a misdemeanor conviction
for indecent exposure requires only registration under Megan's Law, not
public disclosure on the new government websites.
The office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to comment on the possible
legislation, and it was unclear if the governor would rank this effort as
one of the "silly" bills he says the Legislature often dreams up. "You've
got to be kidding me," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said in an e-mail when
asked to comment.
The legislation probably faces a fight. Lawmakers in California have been
eager to expand Megan's Law, not carve out exemptions.
Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, called it
a "loopy idea" at a time when California needs to strengthen laws against
public nudity.
"We already have too many ual assaults in society. This will fuel that
fire, and if the women don't understand, that's because they don't think
like a man," Thomasson said.
But Johnsson countered the notion that "if you allow topless sunbathing on
state beaches Š civilization will collapse. I tried to show that we have
faced these same fears, like when we gave women the right to vote and enter
the armed forces, and we have survived."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-topless22jan22,0,3775804.story?coll=
la-home-local
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| | From: | Baldin Pramer | | Subject: | Re: LAT: Woman Promotes the Right to Go Topless | | Date: | Sat, 22 Jan 2005 09:34:30 -0700 |
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| sufaud wrote:
> Los Angeles Times
>
> Woman Promotes the Right to Go Topless
>
> An attorney crusades to change the law because it treats male and female
> sunbathers differently. A ruling in a Megan's Law case adds urgency.
>
> By Robert Salladay
> Times Staff Writer
>
> January 22, 2005
>
> SACRAMENTO ‹ As a Ventura County public defender, Liana Johnsson has handled
> many life-changing cases, but her biggest public crusade these days has been
> going topless.
>
> For months, Johnsson has been fighting to allow topless women at California
> beaches and parks, and now the issue has made its way to the Capitol.
>
> A group of lawyers, at Johnsson's request, has asked the Legislature to make
> topless sunbathing legal, saying the ban is the last criminal sanction that
> treats women differently than men.
I support this 100%. Do it in the name of freedom.
--
Sir Baldin Pramer, R.P.A.
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