It’s all getting weirder.
Minneapolis, ground zero for the riots that exploded across the country after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd while in the custody of the city’s police department, is moving to free the nipple.
The city’s park board has just begun the process to change its nudity ordinance that prohibits women from being topless in parks.
Under the existing ordinance, no one ten years or older is allowed to expose their genitals, pubic area, buttocks or – for females – breasts below the top of the areola in a park or parkway.
But Park Board Commissioner Chris Meyer wants to repeal the ordinance.
“The restrictions on indecent exposure in the city [ordinance] and state statute will still apply to people, but after the repeal receives its third reading there will no longer be any park-specific ordinance on the subject,” Meyer said in a Facebook post.
“The only real impact of this change will be to eliminate the discriminatory language that targets female breasts. Elsewhere in Minneapolis people of all genders can be topless in public, but in parks and parkways women and transgender people are cited for it,” he wrote.
Meyer said men can go shirtless, so women and transgender people should be able to do so, too – as long as men don’t “oversexualize” them.
“I firmly believe the law should treat people equally regardless of gender. In spaces where men are allowed to go shirtless, women and transgender people should be able to as well,” Meyer stated. “Inversely, in spaces where it would be inappropriate for women to expose their chests, it should be inappropriate for men as well. People should not be discriminated against just because heterosexual men have oversexualized them. Any argument that can be made against the exposure of a woman’s chest should apply just as strongly against the exposure of a man’s chest.”
The Park Board will be voting to repeal its nudity ordinance on Wednesday. The restrictions on indecent exposure in the…
Posted by Chris Meyer on Sunday, July 12, 2020
On Wednesday, the park board will take the first of three votes needed to repeal the ordinance, with a final reading and vote set for mid-August.
The move is finding some support, KARE-11 reported.
“The fact is, we are conditioned to certain things. That’s part of our culture and you can’t change a culture quickly. It takes about two generations minimum to change the culture,” resident Lee Lyon told the station. “It doesn’t hurt anybody, the only people who are hurt are the people who think everybody should be like them.”
But social media wasn’t too kind.
“Glad to see that Minneapolis has their eye on the ball for the issues that matter,” wrote one person on Twitter.
Glad to see that Minneapolis has their eye on the ball for the issues that matter. https://t.co/4oKqb4TN6M
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) July 15, 2020
“Meanwhile, the city has been destroyed and looks like Sarajevo c. 1992,” said another, noting the massive destruction that has been done by protesters.
meanwhile, the city has been destroyed and looks like Sarajevo c. 1992 https://t.co/NucM6Mn0l0
— Matt Vespa (@mVespa1) July 15, 2020
“We need freedom from other people’s freedoms,” wrote another. “Parks are for kids and families. Go to a bar or create a nude park. Let the kids and families have the parks without nudity. Plenty of nudity to go around. Nude people don’t need the parks too.”
We need freedom from other people's freedoms.
Parks are for kids and families.
Go to a bar or create a nude park.Let the kids and families have the parks without nudity.
Plenty of nudity to go around. Nude people don't need the parks too. #nudesafezones— Authority needs to be checked justmyhumble (@usebigears) July 15, 2020