CONCORD, N.H. (AP) \u2014 Lawmakers backing a bill to criminalize women exposing their breasts in public said Monday they\u2019re trying to shield families and children, especially those drawn to New Hampshire\u2019s beaches \u2014 a big tourist draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a shame that some folks are more concerned with exposing their breasts in public places than they are concerned about how families and children may be impacted by being forced to experience this evolving societal behavior,\u201d Republican Rep. Brian Gallagher told a legislative committee. \u201cThis is about a movement to change the values of New Hampshire society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher is a sponsor of legislation that would make it a misdemeanor for women to show their breasts or nipples in public with \u201creckless disregard\u201d for whether it would offend someone. It\u2019s partly a response to a \u201cFree the Nipple\u201d movement that led to two women being cited for going topless at a Gilford beach last year. The bill also caused an online spat among several state legislators that drew national attention after a male lawmaker said if women want to show their breasts in public they should be OK with men wanting to \u201cgrab\u201d them.<\/p>\n
At Monday\u2019s public hearing, backers of the legislation cautioned that allowing women to go topless at beaches will create a slippery slope where women are going topless at public libraries and Little League baseball games. Gallagher and Rep. Peter Spanos, a co-sponsor of the bill, said New Hampshire could lose tourism dollars if women are wandering public places with their breasts uncovered. Both said they brought the legislation in response to concern from constituents over the incident in Gilford.<\/p>\n
But opponents charge such a ban violates the constitution by creating different standards for men and women. Kari Stephens, a Hampton resident who said she goes topless at the beach, argued lawmakers shouldn\u2019t be taking away a right that women in New Hampshire already have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not lunatics, we are not radical, we\u2019re not looking to go to football games topless or libraries or school meetings,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cIf there is a man in a public space who is obviously comfortable enough, then why should I not have that same right?\u201d<\/p>\n
The New Hampshire chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also opposes the bill.<\/p>\n
In early February, a judge dismissed the Gilford case, saying the town lacked authority for a prosecution because there is no state law that prohibits the exposure of female breasts in public. But the judge also said women\u2019s exposure was not symbolic expression protected by the First Amendment and didn\u2019t find the town\u2019s prohibition violated any constitutionally protected right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) \u2014 Lawmakers backing a bill to criminalize women exposing their breasts in public said Monday they\u2019re trying to shield families and children, especially those drawn to New Hampshire\u2019s beaches \u2014 a big tourist draw. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that some folks are more concerned with exposing their breasts in public places than they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15709"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}