Organization petitions Obama to uphold the right for women to go topless

GoTopless, a Las Vegas-based organization dedicated to attaining women's rights to go bare-chested, today announced that it is petitioning the Obama administration to have that right recognized nationally. The petition has been launched this week ahead of International GoTopless Day on August 26, a date chosen to coincide with Women's Equality Day, which commemorates the attainment of women's voting rights on August 26, 1920.

GoTopless President Nadine Gary stated, via a release, “Any state or local law making it illegal for a woman to go topless is unconstitutional, but most people don't know that. That's why we're taking the issue of topless rights to the top by demanding the president's attention to this issue. A woman's right to go topless falls under the 14th Amendment's gender equality provision, and nobody knows that better than President Obama. He taught constitutional law."

According to GoTopless, rigid morality codes of mainstream religions are the primary source of topless inequality directed against women, and mustn't be allowed to override the Constitution, according to GoTopless. In conjunction with the petition, GoTopless has issued a letter directly to President Obama in an effort to obtain his support.

Gary stated that topless rights are now where men's were a century ago. “People forget it wasn't acceptable for men to bare their chests until 1933. Even men's bathing suits had to include a top. Clark Gable exposed his chest in the 1934 movie 'It Happened One Night,' and it caused a national scandal. Today, nobody thinks a thing of it when a man takes his shirt off. Now it's women's turn.” Gary added, “The Constitution is very clear about separation of church and state.”

GoTopless was founded in 2007 by Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement, after he heard of a New York City case in which a woman arrested for going topless sued for wrongful arrest and won significant damages. The New York woman’s right was upheld, but GoTopless believes that it shouldn't have been necessary for her to prove it.

New York has been a legally topless state for women since 1992, but frequently the police either don't know the law or ignore it. To view the letter to President Obama, please click HERE and for more information on the GoTopless petition, please click HERE.