International "Go Topless" Day Celebration, Dolores Park, S.F. 2015-08-23

This minor event was advertised in FunCheap, and in the good weather the park was crowded by sunbathers., picnicking with food and drinks, and many playing their boomboxes.

By 2 pm a small group had gathered near the north-eastern corner, with about a dozen men and women. The women were topless, and he men the same or had even put something on the chest to mimic the fact that if women had to wear something on their breasts, the men should also have to do so.

I could only arrive a little after 3 pm, and shortly thereafter I took some unposed pictures of the grouping which was not boozing, not on drugs, and created no noisy music. Among the men were George Davis, the perennial political candidate and nudist advocate, Jeff Wheeler, the local WNBR leader, and Lloyd Fishback, the peripatetic naturist in San Francisco.

The women I didn't know, but generally they are supposed to belong o "GoTopless.org" which is run by Rael, founder of Gotopless and spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement (rael.org), and they promote the equal topless rights for all. Rael says: ""As long as men are allowed to be topless in public, women should have the same constitutional right. Or else, men should have to wear something to hide their chests"

It may seem a pittance to fight over, but Sunday August 23 is the closest to August 26, so Go Topless Day had to be now. Why, because the U.S. government declared Aug. 26 Women's Equality Day, as it was on Aug. 26, 1920, that American women earned the right to vote. It's time to demand our right to go topless on the same gender equality basis. Rael, I believe, spoke to a couple of media people, propounding her ideas.

Although San Francisco basically allows topless women in public, a band of brown-shirts now rule the PARKS in the city, even clamping down on women showing too much of their breasts. So, a couple of these park rangers, obviously with nothing better to do, trotted up to the little group around 3:30pm, questioning them and issuing citations. Then I left.

Leif Heilberg, August 2015.