SACRAMENTO, CA – In a move sure to be compared to Oregon’s recent free expression decision, a federal judge has determined that topless protests are not examples of free expression and may be legally quashed.U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell informed Breasts Not Bombs, a group of Mendocino women who planned a peace protest on the state Capitol grounds sans shirts, that their actions were not protected by the state’s First Amendment and that any women who protested topless could be arrested.
“Being topless is not inherently expressive” speech, Burrell insisted after the activist group claimed First Amendment Protection for what they contend is a “dynamic and fully expressive statement worthy of constitutional protection.”
The peace group had intended to protest the Iraq war on noon Monday but learned that the California Highway Patrol had been instructed to arrest any woman who exposed her breasts.
Sherry Glaser, a group leader, said that the protest may well take place with breasts covered. “All we really have is the power of ourselves,” she explained. “Our bodies bring attention.”
The plan had been for group members to assemble on the west steps of the Capitol and expose their “natural and decent” breasts to act as a foil to what they believe are the “indecent” initiatives backed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Breasts Not Bombs unsuccessfully attempted to gain a temporary restraining order protecting its members against arrest by the California Highway Patrol.
Past protestors that have attempted to incorporate nudity into their Capitol-focused activities have consistently been denied the opportunity to do so and Tom Marshall, California Highway Patrol spokesman insisted that “It has always been our policy that we do not allow nudity on the Capitol grounds.” According to Marshall, such nudity could be both disruptive and dangerous due to the number of people that visit the Capitol, including “Hundreds of California schoolchildren” who might be exposed to the sight of bare breasts during their Capitol steps lunch breaks.
