Columbus,Ohio? — Legal Issues on True Nudists

newnudist47Original Poster

Apr 19, 2011

I was on line last night and read that it is legal in Columbus,Ohio for women to go topless.Is that true? Can I really walk out my front door topless? Can I really drive my car in Columbus topless? Can I really walk out on my deck in front of my neighbors and tan topless? and at the pool? If this is all true why is it that no one is doing this! In advance thanks for your comments.

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JA
jason
Apr 19, 2011
you can be topless anywhere in ohio as long as you are not causing a disturbance. such as numerous people complaining or a 5 car pile up due to the guys driving them were rubbernecking.
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NE
newnudist47Original Poster
Apr 19, 2011
[quote]you can be topless anywhere in ohio as long as you are not causing a disturbance. such as numerous people complaining or a 5 car pile up due to the guys driving them were rubbernecking.[/quote] So Jaydog-If i was to go out topless not doing anything wrong,1st that is legal? 2nd if I am not doing anything wrong and the police gets complaints by a group of people that I am topless would I still get in trouble? And also instead of hiding at night driving my car,I could of been driving topless anytime day or night. If this is true.Why is it that noone knows this.
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ST
Steve
Apr 19, 2011
There's no universal "equal right" to toplessness; maybe that's the case in some places. But here in Hawaii, certainly, where male toplessness is very common, it is specifically illegal for a woman to be topless in public, with a careful anatomical description of just what part of the top has to be covered.
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JA
jason
Apr 20, 2011
well if the woman was arrested for breastfeeding that is more or less a case of an over zealous cop. women can go topless at beaches in ohio as well. how it is handled is up to the particular cop. some police are super duper serious by the book, no way around it. others understand that some of the laws are a bit old or archaic and don't enforce them as prescribed.
the orc can be cut and pasted all anybody wants, but i've heard from law enforcement training instructors that women can be topless.
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CR
CraigS
Jun 1, 2011
I find it horribly irresponsible of lawmakers and society to frown on women going topless. Nipples are nipples! So when a guy struts down a street topless with "man boobs" shouldn't he then be charged with lewd and lascivious? The context of law suggests that! This country and it's laws are way out of line. I'm not at all suggesting abandoning them all but a re-write is certianly in order. Come on!
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MU
muskate16
Jun 4, 2011
Ya I dont think it is legal to go topless in ohio either! I read articles all the time about women getting arrested for breasting their babies in public, so if that is illegal, i surely dont think its legal to do it for lesiure. I am born and raised in Ohio, and have never heard that it was legal.
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JA
jason
Jun 5, 2011
well it is legal. i'm more likely to take what i've been told by ranking police officers that teach at law enforcement academies than what people have heard.
the laws on the books are like the strike zone in a major league game, they are open to interpretation by each person doing the decision making.
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CD
Cheri Donna Dawson
Jun 6, 2011
[quote]well it is legal. i'm more likely to take what i've been told by ranking police officers that teach at law enforcement academies than what people have heard. the laws on the books are like the strike zone in a major league game, they are open to interpretation by each person doing the decision making.[/quote] AND...that is usually a judge and not a police officer. They don't always know the intracacies of the law.
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JA
jason
Jun 6, 2011
if the police officer decides not to issue a citation or make an arrest then the judge has no say so in the matter since it was never brought before them.
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CO
Curt, or Cowboy
Jun 6, 2011
The short version is no, technically it's not.
Cheri posted the long version.
Any version in between is subject to interpretation, how good your lawyer is, and how much money you would be willing to "invest."
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GE
George_Kate
Jun 21, 2011
From everything I have read, it is indeed legal for women to be topless in public in Columbus, OH. There have been many stories writen about this subject that you can find with a google search. There was a famous case in 2008 where police used a topless woman in a public park to encourage men to expose themselves. When the men did, the police swooped in and arrested the man for indecent exposure. The woman was not arrested, because it is legal for her to be topless. There is also a big festival every year called "comfest" where many women walk around topless. Some Links:http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/topless_woman_police_entrapment_sting/http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2009/jun/24/go_topless-ar-14569/
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ME
Member
Jun 21, 2011
[quote]From everything I have read, it is indeed legal for women to be topless in public in Columbus, OH. There have been many stories writen about this subject that you can find with a google search. There was a famous case in 2008 where police used a topless woman in a public park to encourage men to expose themselves. When the men did, the police swooped in and arrested the man for indecent exposure. The woman was not arrested, because it is legal for her to be topless. There is also a big festival every year called "comfest" where many women walk around topless. Some Links:http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/topless_woman_police_entrapment_sting/http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2009/jun/24/go_topless-ar-14569/[/quote] There is also another group calledGOTOPLESS.orgEvery year they have a US National Go-Topless Day....this year it's Sunday, August 21, 2011... So far, these are the cities participating this year.....Participating US cities so far on Aug 21, 2011:New York City,Washington DC,Miami,Chicago (North Avenue Beach),Los Angeles (Venice Beach),Seattle,Austin, TX,Columbus, OH,Honolulu, HI...and 2 Canadian cities...Toronto and Vancouver Their website is very interesting...and hopefully more nudists will show support for the freedom of going topless anywhere just like men do when they are out and about...
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CA
CabotCheese
Jun 21, 2011
[quote][quote]I find it horribly irresponsible of lawmakers and society to frown on women going topless. Nipples are nipples! So when a guy struts down a street topless with "man boobs" shouldn't he then be charged with lewd and lascivious? The context of law suggests that! This country and it's laws are way out of line. I'm not at all suggesting abandoning them all but a re-write is certianly in order. Come on![/quote] I agree. In Tenn a woman can be topless in public as long as her nipples are completly covered. I do wonder of a female wore a pasty that had the image of a male nipple if she will be legal.[/quote] Despite what the law says, it seems the Police arrest based on other grounds. Even if the Judge throws the case out of court there has been enough embarresment to effectively suppress the 'offensive' activity. The commonly stated reasons for having anti-nudity laws are specious at best. such as protecting minors: well if a guy is naked one can soon see if he is having sexual desires around minors, better than if he were clothed - its an advantage !!. Same applies to offending a woman. The reality of it is that folks have a hangup about their bodies and view naked bodies as gross. They simply don't want to look at something they consider gross and hide behind laws that 'protect the women and children'. The elimination of public nudity in the western world can be traced to indoor plumbing IMHO. In the 'good ole days' before indoor plumbing, folks would often bathe at 'public baths', so were accustomed to seeing each other naked once in a while. Americans shower daily in private. I was ridiculed for walking naked around the mens locker room at work just before taking a shower, 'look at him, you'd think he was at the house'. We've bread abuch of prudes that like to pass laws to justify their prudish nature.
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NO
None
Jun 22, 2011
I went to college in Columbus back in the late 70's and saw lots of women topless actually completely naked. My wife 2 or 3 of my buddies wives. They found out we were nudists and just wanted to hang out nude. I am still trying to figure out what happened? Tiny little bikinis, guys wearing small bikinis! Then it just stopped. Now women at the beach wearing something close to a burqa guys with swim suits on that goes to their ankles. WTF?
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ME
Member
Oct 6, 2012
[quote]I was on line last night and read that it is legal in Columbus,Ohio for women to go topless.Is that true? Can I really walk out my front door topless? Can I really drive my car in Columbus topless? Can I really walk out on my deck in front of my neighbors and tan topless? and at the pool? If this is all true why is it that no one is doing this! In advance thanks for your comments.[/quote]never had an arrest during the World Naked Bike Rides... so far, so good
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JA
jayec89
Feb 26, 2013
speaking of World Naked Bike Ride ... do you know where the closest one will be?
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WH
Whodatfromdaback
Apr 2, 2016
[quote]I was on line last night and read that it is legal in Columbus,Ohio for women to go topless.Is that true? Can I really walk out my front door topless? Can I really drive my car in Columbus topless? Can I really walk out on my deck in front of my neighbors and tan topless? and at the pool? If this is all true why is it that no one is doing this! In advance thanks for your comments.[/quote]
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WH
Whodatfromdaback
Apr 2, 2016
[quote]I was on line last night and read that it is legal in Columbus,Ohio for women to go topless.Is that true? Can I really walk out my front door topless? Can I really drive my car in Columbus topless? Can I really walk out on my deck in front of my neighbors and tan topless? and at the pool? If this is all true why is it that no one is doing this! In advance thanks for your comments.[/quote] From what the Columbus dispatch reported on the front page years back, it's completely legal for any woman to go topless with in the city limits. I've never heard or seen anything about it being a state law that you could anywhere in Ohio.
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WE
welovebeingnude
Jul 22, 2016
Laws only state what is Illegal and thus you will not find a law anywhere in Ohio that say's that it is legal for a women to be
topless. That being said, you also will not find a law from the State that says topless women is illegal. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled
that the showing of genitals is illegal but/and also ruled thatwomen's breast areNOT considered genitals.

Towns and City's is another story. Just because the state doesn't say it's illegal doesn't mean that city's cant make a law against it.
However, Columbus, Ohio has no laws against it, for now anyways. In any state park in Ohio a women can go topless because the state owns the park and have no laws against it.

The simple way to know for sure is to simply make a 30 sec phone call to your local police department or a park ranger.
I just recently had a conversation with a (13 year) police dispatcher whom now works for the sheriffs department and she said the same thing. It is legal across the whole state of Ohio unless you are in a town or city that has made other laws against it.

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with a park ranger. She assured me that it is completely legal but says no one ever does it, there anyways. I also called a distant police department and that dispatcher had a different story. When I asked if was legal for a women to run the streets topless her answer was, umm no. like I was an idiot for even asking.

The issue with police departments in smaller city's is they automatically assume that it is illegal like everybody else and therefore, if you happen to try it, you will defiantly have a run in with them, but when they go to write the ticket, they will have to find the law that says it's illegal and since that law doesn't exist in Ohio they will have to walk away. Unless the city or town that you are in have ordinances against it.

So long story short, Columbus is a city where it is defiantly legal and the police are warned not to issue tickets for it. If you drive through the country topless you would be fine. Also. state parks is ok and the rangers there are taught that it is legal. Smaller cities and towns are probably not a good idea unless you read through the ordinances first. Unless it specifically states that a women's breast are to be covered it is also legal there. Remember, laws books only say what is illegal and don't say what is legal so,if it doesn't say that it is illegal then it is legal no matter what anyone else's opinion is on it including the police.

2907.09 Public indecency.(A) No person shall recklessly do any of the following, under circumstances in which the person's conduct is likely to be viewed by and affront others who are in the person's physical proximity and who are not members of the person's household:

(1) Expose the person's private parts; (2) Engage in sexual conduct or masturbation;(3) Engage in conduct that to an ordinary observer would appear to be sexual conduct or masturbation.

Notice there is nothing about breast only private parts and according to the Ohio supreme court breast are not private parts.

R.C. 2907.09(A)(1) "private parts" means "genitals," not breast

http://lawhaha.com/judge-holds-that-female-breasts-are-not-private-parts/

http://www.naturistaction.org/AlertsAdvisoriesUpdates/ADVISORIES/Bourne_12-107/OH_2007_Lorien_Bourne_NAC_amicus_juris_12-10-07.pdf

Interestingly, expert testimony at appellants' trial suggested that the enforced concealment of women's breasts reinforces cultural obsession with them, contributes toward unhealthy attitudes about breasts by both sexes and even discourages women from breastfeeding their children.

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NU
nudeyrudy_ys1607
Jul 23, 2016
[quote][quote]I was on line last night and read that it is legal in Columbus,Ohio for women to go topless.Is that true? Can I really walk out my front door topless? Can I really drive my car in Columbus topless? Can I really walk out on my deck in front of my neighbors and tan topless? and at the pool? If this is all true why is it that no one is doing this! In advance thanks for your comments.[/quote] From what the Columbus dispatch reported on the front page years back, it's completely legal for any woman to go topless with in the city limits. I've never heard or seen anything about it being a state law that you could anywhere in Ohio.[/quote] You donâ€™t have enough time to handle your homework assignment? We can offer help in completing any type of homework starting with 6 hours deadline and 8$ per page
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NU
nudeyrudy_ys1607
Jul 23, 2016
[quote] You donâ€™t have enough time to handle your homework assignment? We can offer help in completing any type of homework starting with 6 hours deadline and 8$ per page
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WE
welovebeingnude
Jul 23, 2016
From an expert witness at an appellants trial:

Interestingly, expert testimony at appellants' trial suggested that the enforced concealment of women's breasts reinforces cultural obsession with them, contributes toward unhealthy attitudes about breasts by both sexes and even discourages women from breastfeeding their children.

I defiantly agree, when a man sees every women around with there breast out he no longer has the same desires or feelings about them. In my opinion a bikini is a lot sexier and more sexually enticing then a bunch of naked breast, in an open setting.
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ME
Member
Jul 23, 2016
[quote]From an expert witness at an appellants trial:

Interestingly, expert testimony at appellants' trial suggested that the enforced concealment of women's breasts reinforces cultural obsession with them, contributes toward unhealthy attitudes about breasts by both sexes and even discourages women from breastfeeding their children.

I defiantly agree, when a man sees every women around with there breast out he no longer has the same desires or feelings about them. In my opinion a bikini is a lot sexier and more sexually enticing then a bunch of naked breast, in an open setting.
[/quote]I'm of two minds on this. I guess it depends on which one I'm thinking with at the time.
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ME
Member
Aug 30, 2016
You never really win a law suit or a criminal arrest. IF IT IS LEGAL, then after hiring an attorney at your own expense, spending two years of hassle, enduring publicity and criticism at work and church, having your children teased at school, and a public trial, YOU WILL GET OFF! Most of these laws are vague. "activity that reasonably might offend someone", leaves a world of open ended questions. It boils down to how much of an activist you are and how much time and money you wish to invest.
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