San Franciscans To Go Naked For Valentine’s Day Nude Protest
Bay Area nudists plan to march naked through the city streets this weekend and rally in front of City Hall to protest the San Francisco nudity ban that was first enacted four years ago.
The second annual Nude Valentine’s Day Parade, organized by self-proclaimed body freedom activist Gypsy Taub, is intended to celebrate love and freedom at a time when the country is divided over a Donald Trump presidency, according to a press release.
“In today’s climate of hate brought on by the Trump administration it is especially important to cultivate and celebrate love.”
They join a growing number of San Franciscans who have spoken out against Trump and his controversial immigration ban and threats to defund sanctuary cities.
Taub and the San Francisco nudists compare the right to go naked in city streets to the freedom of speech and argue their clothing-optional lifestyle is guaranteed by the constitution. Their last Valentine’s Day parade drew 50 naked people and about 150 clothed onlookers.
Calling themselves body freedom activists, the nudists argue that the constitution guarantees all Americans the right to do with their body as they please, which includes wearing clothing or not, selling it for sex, or injecting it with vaccines.
The San Francisco body freedom activists have marched nude through city streets to fight against slut shaming, for women’s rights, for sexual equality, and most recently, to shame pedophiles, according to MyNakedTruthTV.
“In today’s climate of oppression and bigotry it is especially important to demand freedom on all levels of human existence.We want our naked bodies to demonstrate that we don’t fight with weapons nor violence, but with our hearts and minds using the power of our spirit and the power of love.”
The Valentine’s Day naked march comes as the city nudists continue their legal fight with the city in federal court. When the nudity ban was first enacted in San Francisco in 2013, a provision was created to allow naked people in public parades like the Folsom Street Fair and political protests.
The body freedom activists, however, were denied multiple parade and protest permits by the San Francisco Police Department. That didn’t stop them from showing up naked on city streets, however, and their protest movements often resulted in confrontations with police during those early times.
Eventually, the group hired a lawyer and entered into a civil rights lawsuit against San Francisco claiming the nudity ban was selectively enforced against them, according to CBS San Francisco.
“Defendants have taken every opportunity to strike at plaintiffs at events they organize, while apparently being struck by a feeling of obliviousness when it comes to events organized by others who are not part of this lawsuit,
Gypsy Taub, the leader of the San Francisco nudist movement, was born in Russia and came to America in 1988 when she worked in the sex industry and learned people would listen to her if she was naked.
She went on to become a mother-of-three with her own cable access show called MyNakedTruth, which still airs every Sunday night on Channel 29 in San Francisco.
As the head of the body freedom movement, she encourages her fellow nudists to fight for gender equality, sexual equality, women’s rights, and free speech, and against the sexualization of women and the female form, according to MyNakedTruthTV.
“In these challenging times it is more important than it has ever been to not despair, to believe in ourselves and to stand united in the name of love, in the name of a brighter future. It is up to us what world we choose to create.”
Should San Franciscans have the right to walk city streets without clothes?
[Featured Image By Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
