The crowd of supporters was noticeably smaller than it had been in the past, but those who continue to fight for "body freedom", the right to appear nude in public, have lost none of their passion. Four nudists, Gypsy Taub, Jaymz Smith, Rusty Mills and George Davis, were arrested at a noon rally in Jane Warner Plaza this past Sunday.
The "nude-in" was organized to commemorate the two year anniversary since the passage of San Francisco's ban on public nudity.
"We were taken to Mission Station and released after we signed citations," Taub told Hoodline that evening. "I am tired of the SFPD violating our constitutional rights, but today they went beyond that. Nudity ban violation is only an infraction. For an infraction they are only allowed to arrest people who refuse to sign the citation or refuse to produce an ID."
Taub said that all four of those arrested had their IDs ready and were willing to sign. Around a dozen police officers made the arrests. Three officers were asked if they would comment for this story. All three declined. Lt. Phil Pott did acknowledge that SFPD received many complaints about the nudists before the nudity ban was implemented two years ago.
As Taub and her fellow nudists were taken away, several observers booed and yelled "Shame! Shame!" Hoodline asked people in the Plaza if they were for or against the nudists. Many stated that they would prefer to not be quoted.
Ray Borkowski, 73, participated in the nude-in. Though he took off his clothes during the speeches, he kept his crotch area covered in order to avoid arrest. He said that allowing nudity at events like Pride, Bay to Breakers or the Castro and Folsom Street Fairs, was not enough.
"Why do they have the right to tell us to put our clothes back on?" he asked.
Jim Korn, who was fully dressed, was the one observer who expressed support for the nudists. "I think the police are cracking down on a harmless activity," he said. "I can respect people who are offended. A lot of things are offensive, but we don't try to banish them."
Korn said that he remained clothed "because I don't want that kind of contact with the police."
Gypsy Taub was allowed to speak for about ten minutes before the arrests were made. "Today is the second anniversary of the Republican nudity ban," she said. "But we are not going to celebrate that. The nudity ban will go down in history as an embarrassing attempt to return to the Dark Ages by the fascist Republican shadow government that has bought its way into San Francisco politics."
Taub also said that openly gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who authored and introduced the nudity ban, was "widely hated in the Castro and beyond." She also alleged that Wiener stole the recent District 8 Supervisor election.
When reached by Hoodline, Mr. Wiener, who was reelected to office with more than 75 percent of the vote, declined to comment.
Speakers, who included Jaymz Smith and George Davis, pointed out that the San Francisco Body Freedom movement was now receiving support from a group called Unconstitutional Arkansas, where, according to the local nudists, both public nudity and expressing support for public nudity had been banned.
Davis pointed out that Portland, Oregon had usurped San Francisco as "the kinkiest city in America."
When the nudists were warned to put their clothes back on or face arrest. Taub responded with, "Thank you for violating my rights!"
For Castro residents tired of their neighborhood being the de facto epicenter of the nudist movement's activities, the respite from similar protests may be brief: the nudists' lawsuit to overturn the nudity ban remains pending in the courts.
