Free Republic

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by three women arrested for violating a New Hampshire city ordinance by exposing their breasts in public as part of the so-called "Free the Nipple" movement. The rejection leaves in place a 2019 ruling by New Hampshire's top court that upheld their convictions for violating a Laconia, N.H., measure that prohibits female toplessness in public. The women -- Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro -- argued the ban violates the Constitution. The ordinance makes it illegal to uncover female breasts “with less than a fully opaque covering of...

A federal court ruling over a ban on women going topless in public has essentially made it legal for women to go topless in public in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, according to a local TV station. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is over those six states, struck down the topless ban in Ft. Collins, Colo. after two women sued the city for the right to go topless in public. Since Ft. Collins is not appealing the decision (the next step would be the Supreme Court), that means topless bans in those six states are...

This has been a closely watched case in New Hampshire, both in terms of free speech and gender discrimination. (And I don’t mean “closely watched” just because it involves topless women.) Three Granite State ladies, Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro, were arrested in 2016 for going topless at a local beach and refusing to cover up after other bathers complained. They were subsequently convicted of violating a local indecent exposure law. Their initial appeals were rejected and now the state’s highest court has agreed with the previous judges and declared that the conviction was not a violation...