DENMARK: Political Gadfly Runs For Prime Minister With Nude Campaign Poster

Via the Local Denmark:

John Erik Wagner wants voters to know two things: 1) he is running for prime minister and 2) he is proud of his penis. He doesn’t stand a chance of winning, but say this for John Erik Wagner: the man’s got balls. Although to be fair, they aren’t on full display along with his penis in election posters that can be spotted all throughout Copenhagen. Wagner is running for prime minister as an independent and has a history of displaying a shall we say unconventional approach to politics. The 52-year-old from the Copenhagen district of Amager has been running in parliamentary, local and regional elections since 2005. Most of that was with little attention but that changed in 2013 when he burst onto the stage in his customary cowboy get-up during a live televised municipal election debate to protest the exclusion of smaller parties.

The uncensored campaign poster is here.

Fire Island Bans Nude Sunbathing

In response to reports of public sex and other actually serious crimes, park rangers with the National Seashore authority have banned nude sunbathing on all of Fire Island, which comprises 17 residential communities along the barrier island off of Long Island. The main trouble spot appears not to be the popular gay communities of Cherry Grove and The Pines.

The surging popularity of Lighthouse Beach in particular has led to increased complaints and observations of assault, sex, masturbation and prostitution, said Fire Island chief ranger Lena Koschmann. On some summer days, as many as 4,000 people descend on the narrow strip of land east of Robert Moses State Park Field 5, in the shadow of famed Fire Island Lighthouse. "We've been struggling to make it work because Fire Island has a history of that type of use and people have been coming there for years," Koschmann said. "The more we talked about it and researched it, the more we realized that that use wasn't compatible with an area like Lighthouse Beach."

The ban was also prompted, in part, by the decimation of sand dunes by Hurricane Sandy, meaning that nude sunbathers are now more visible to tourists. A spokesman for the National Seashore also complains that rowdy partiers at Lighthouse Point have been setting up mobile DJ stations. She adds that invitations to public sex at the parties have been posted on social media networks. The disappointed co-founder of Young Naturists and Nudists America says that her group will now relocate to New Jersey's Gunnison Beach.

Well-Hung Art

At a Vienna gallery showing a special exhibition of male nudes, art fans were invited to attend in the nude themselves.

These museum goers didn't just leave their outerwear at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers, underwear - everything, except their shoes and socks. The occasion at Vienna's Leopold Museum was a special after-hour showing of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" - an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male.  For many, the evening was a goose-bump raising instance of life imitating art. "I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas, as he stood in the atrium with other young men wearing no more than socks and a smile and waiting for the tour to start.

(Tipped by JMG reader William)

Nudism Activists Arrested In SF

Four activists were arrested in San Francisco after they disrobed in public to protest the public nudity ban which went into effect on Friday.

Nude activists Gypsy Taub, George Davis, Trey Allen and Dany DeVero were detained and cited by police after they stripped down in front of City Hall on a mild and sunny afternoon. A handful of other nudity proponents, some topless, carried signs and hurled insults at the dozen police officers who led the full-frontal offenders away. "Freedom of expression is dead in this country," Davis shouted as he was taken into a police van.

The nudity ban went into effect Friday. On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by nudity activists who said outlawing public genital exposure violated their First Amendment rights. Police gave the protesters a 15-minute warning to get dressed or receive a citation that comes with a $100 fine for a first offense. San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said officers were not given any special instructions related to the new law. "We have no choice but to enforce the law," he said.

Opponents of the ban lost their first court battle last week but have vowed to appeal their case to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Court Upholds SF Nudity Ban

Yesterday a federal court dismissed an attempt to block San Francisco's recently-approved ban on public nudity.  The ban will go into effect as scheduled on Friday. Matthew Bajko has more at Bay Area Reporter:

In his ruling Chen wrote that "the court concludes that the ordinance does not conflict with state law, that plaintiffs' facial challenge to the ordinance based on the First Amendment lacks merit because nudity is not inherently expressive and because the ordinance is not substantially overbroad, and that plaintiffs' equal protection claim as pled fails to state a 14th Amendment claim under the rational basis test." The ruling had been expected, as Chen indicated during a January 17 hearing on the nudists' lawsuit that he saw no reason to block the public nudity ban from being implemented. "The plaintiffs took an unlikely position in their case that if they couldn't be naked everywhere, no one could be naked anywhere. We believed their legal challenge to be baseless, and we're grateful that the court agreed," stated City Attorney Dennis Herrera in a news release.

Nudism activists say they will appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Tweet Of The Day - Bill Donohue

SF Nudists Go To Federal Court

Activists are trying to block San Francisco Supervisor Scott Weiner's bill to outlaw public nudity and yesterday their case began in federal court.

The 90-minute-long hearing was a low-decibel and mostly cordial affair punctuated by numerous case citations and cavalcades of legal jargon. If not for eccentrically dressed members of the gallery and the frequent recitation of the ordinance's text -- "A person may not expose his or her genitals, perineum, or anal region..." -- one could be forgiven for thinking he'd wandered into the wrong room. Then the judge started talking about naked dancing.

Prior Supreme Court cases, noted [Judge Edward] Chen, have made allowances for nude dancing exhibitions or other artistic acts of nudism as distinguished from the simple state of being naked. Quoting former Justice David Souter, Chen noted that "performance dancing is inherently expressive. Nudity, per se, is not." Merely being unclothed at "parks, beaches, and hot dog stands" is not worthy of First Amendment protection. Chen further expressed that the scope of Wiener's ordinance, as compared to prior attempts to ban public nudity elsewhere, was "fairly narrowly drawn."

The ban, should it stand, goes into effect at the end of the month.

Fischer On SF's Nudity Ban

SF Narrowly Passes Nudity Ban

Late this afternoon San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 to ban nudity in public places.

Supervisors Jane Kim, John Avalos, Eric Mar, Christina Olague and David Campos voted to oppose the ban. Campos argued that police resources could better be spent fighting violent crime, instead of tracking down naked men roaming the streets. Other supervisors argued the ban seemed to infringe on people’s right to express themselves and was merely a problem in a Castro that didn’t need a citywide ban.

The ban must be reviewed a second time by the Board and approved by the mayor before becoming law on February 1st. (Tipped by JMG reader Craig.)

Quote Of The Day - Bill Donohue

"Homosexuals have been walking around naked in San Francisco with increasing regularity, and tomorrow lawmakers will rule on whether to adopt an ordinance that would make public nudity illegal. There is a caveat: because gay pride is inseparable from genital liberation, the law being considered would still allow these men to go naked at the annual gay pride parade, and at the Folsom Street Fair; the latter event is marked by naked homosexuals who whip each other in the street. Jolly for them, they will still be allowed to torture themselves in public even if the law is passed. Such is the state of American culture in 2012, California-style." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue, wondering why the Baby Jesus is banned on public property, but lustful cockmonsters are not.

SF To Rule On Public Nudity Tomorrow

Tomorrow San Francisco's Board of Supervisors will rule on a proposed ban on public nudity, which has long been legal on city streets provided that a person isn't in a state of "obvious arousal."

Supervisor Scott Wiener's proposal would make it illegal for a person over the age of 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. A first offense would carry a maximum penalty of 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 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.

Wiener says that he is reluctantly backing the change due to the high volume of complaints about the men who regularly gather in a public plaza in the Castro. Residents and merchants point out that the Castro nudists come from outside the neighborhood because they believe they will face fewer objections there. Some claim that few of the nudists are gay themselves.

San Francisco's Proposed Nudity Ban Would Exempt Street Fairs And Parades

San Francisco Supervisor Scott Weiner says he hasn't yet decided on introducing a ban on public nudity, but if he does the bill will exempt street fairs and parades. From the Bay Area Reporter:

After last week's story was published, Wiener contacted the B.A.R. to clarify that if he does submit a public nudity ban it would only apply to "streets, sidewalks, and public plazas." It would exempt such public gatherings as this Sunday's Folsom Street Fair and the annual LGBT Pride celebration. "Anything I would propose would not apply to parades and street festivals," said Wiener. Technically, under the current rules, anyone can be naked on the streets of San Francisco as long as they are not aroused. While there is no written rule banning the wearing of cock rings, the police have been informing male nudists in the Castro not to sport the genital jewelry as doing so crosses the line into indecent behavior that is citable.

The annual San Francisco Nude-In takes place tomorrow at the corner of Castro and Market streets.

San Francisco May Reconsider Nudity Ban

As we've discussed here several times before, it is completely legal to be fully nude on the streets of San Francisco, provided one does not appear to be in a "sexually excited state." A handful of nudists from other neighborhoods like to congregate in the relatively sunny Castro, where they are hassled less often by residents. But nudity may soon be illegal, depending on whether or not cock rings are "erection enhancers" or mere genital jewelery. Seriously.

Matthew Bajko writes at Bay Area Reporter:

District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener disclosed to the Bay Area Reporter this week that he is open to introducing legislation at City Hall that would ban public nudity. [snip] The openly gay supervisor, who joked that he never imagined when he ran for public office he would be asked about cock rings, said he agrees that the penile accouterments are inappropriate in public. "People can have whatever view they want to have on public nudity in general. But to be walking around with a cock ring on or something similar is just not acceptable, responsible behavior," Wiener said. "The whole purpose of a cock ring is to draw attention to that area." Many nudists, in turn, contend that sporting cock rings is similar to wearing earrings or bracelets. They have reported that the police are informing men who wear the genital jewelry that they are in violation of city codes governing being undressed in public. [snip]

Technically, under current San Francisco rules, as long as a person is not visibly sexually aroused, they can be nude in public. But when men have on cock rings, whose primary purpose is to help wearers retain an erection, some city leaders maintain they are crossing the line into public indecency and are in violation of the law. "There is a difference between being naked and making a political statement and then wearing jewelry that brings attention to one's genital areas," said gay San Francisco police Sergeant Chuck Limbert, the LGBT liaison at Mission Station, whose jurisdiction covers the Castro neighborhood. "We have been getting a lot more pressure from the community to do some enforcement in regard to the public nudity and what is going on up there." Limbert insisted there is no specific police department policy regarding cock rings and denied that there were "cock ring patrols" on the hunt in the Castro.

Read the full article.

RELATED: This year's annual Castro Nude-In takes place next Saturday. Last year 56 men and one woman attended.