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.