City checking legality of public nudity law

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials are still trying to determine the

legality of banning nudity in bars, beaches and other public places as an

attempt to curb lewd behavior in the city.

At its last meeting, the City Council tabled an ordinance that would

prohibit public nudity. Council members are now awaiting a study by city

attorneys on the issue.

“What we’re doing now is taking a look at our findings to make sure we

have the best ordinance possible,” said Deputy City Atty. Sarah Lazarus,

adding she is studying the recent case law that may affect the city.

Their concern is focused on the recent Alameda Books vs. City of Los

Angeles case, in which Los Angeles officials adopted a new sex-oriented

business ordinance without making new findings to support it. The U.S.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the ordinance adoption

unconstitutional, and Huntington Beach attorneys are working to see if

the decision would apply to the anti-nudity proposal.

Last week, the council gave a preliminary approval on changes to a

separate ordinance that tightens restrictions on how sex-oriented

businesses can operate.

City officials maintain that public nudity can have negative secondary

effects, such as increased crime and prostitution.

“We’ve already been told that [the city is] going to be sued if we

pass this ordinance,” Lazarus said, referring to the Flamingo Theater --

the first and only sex-oriented business in Huntington Beach. “We just

want to be sure that what we go into court with is the best we can get.”

The public nudity ordinance first appeared before the city in May

1999, when the City Council considered amending the Huntington Beach

Municipal Code to include a prohibition of nudity in restaurants, on

playgrounds and anywhere else the public can access within the city.

The proposed ordinance would be enforced civilly, if passed, with

punishments including injunctions and administrative citations to

businesses found in violations, officials said. It would also be

enforceable against all existing and future sex-oriented businesses, city

officials said.

While some residents support the proposed ordinance to fight the

spread of nude dance clubs and other sex-oriented businesses, others see

it as a restriction on their freedom of expression.

“There is really no need to mention public nudity in what is basically

a sex-oriented ordinance,” said Allen Boeylis, a resident and naturist

who defended the public’s right to choose nudity as a lifestyle during

the council’s last meeting. “Please don’t include naturists, and their

resorts like those found in Palm Springs, with this ordinance.”

City officials said naturists and nudists are concerned about the

restrictions the ordinance would place on their lifestyles, and on the

possibility of opening a nude beach or resort, or a naturist business

within the community.

“I, for one, am at least glad the city separated the issue between

sex-oriented clubs and nudity,” said 40-year resident Irene Sherman. “I’m

a nudist, and it’s something that is very sentimental to me.”

QUESTION

BANNING THE BARE?

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