George Davis Body Freedom Speech at SF City Hall 2017-02-01
Neither the San Francisco Police or the Sheriff's Department physically prevented George Davis from speaking.
He, and a fellow supporter, both arrived at noon, and within some minutes they began to undress in front of the City Hall doors. No one intervened, and within ten minutes George was nude, grabbed a copy of his prepared speech which had been distributed to the media ahead of time, and started the presentation.
Just a few people, passers-by as well as visitors to the City Hall, even stopped for a moment to look at the nude man. On each side of the steps leading up to the entrance doors, a few cops stood by, doing really nothing much and never came up to George and company during the speech.
The skies were overcast like they had been all morning, and the breeze was cool, so it was a bit cold for George to present his position on public nudity, but he never complained. About ten minutes later it was all over, and George and company dressed again. At this point two cops came over, shook hands with George, and congratulated him on a peaceful presentation.
I had only taken about a dozen pictures, but it sufficed, as no physical action had taken place, no outsiders had moved onto the two men, and George was simply satisfied with having achieved his goal of the nude speech, with official approval.
Leif Heilberg, February 2017
The Body Freedom Speech by George Davis
Hi. I'm George Davis, a well-known Body Freedom activist and co-author of Naked Yoga. I have been promoting better public physical and mental health for decades. Paradoxically, I am better known and respected among those that follow the Body Freedom Movement in London and New York City than I am here in San Francisco where I live.
For those unfamiliar with the Body Freedom Movement, it's a reality-based movement that emphasizes the obvious fact that our bodies and our harmless, pleasurable desires and impulses are normal and natural and need not be suppressed.
You would think that a simple truth like this would be an easy sell. In fact, a majority of citizens, especially those who try to think rationally, agree with the principles of Body Freedom. However, while the support is wide, it is also shallow. Supporters of Body Freedom are constantly intimidated by belligerant opposing forces -- fundamentalist religions, state mind-control factions, and angry people looking for someone they can bully. The opponents of Body Freedom spend a lot of time, money, and energy to shame people about their bodies and pleasures.
Several methods are used by Body Freedom opponents to make people ashamed of their bodies:
It's quite possible that everything is about to change. We now have a new First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, whose nude images are all over the Internet. If she isn't ashamed of her nude image, why should any of us be?
Some of you may be unaware that San Francisco's law that criminalizes public nudity makes an exception for "parades, fairs, and festivals" that have an official police permit. This includes the Gay Pride Parade and Festival, the How Weird Faire, the Folsom Street Faire -- in fact, all of the San Francisco Street Fairs and "Sunday Streets" events, are exempted from the anti-nudity law, as are the Bay-to-Breakers, and September's San Francisco Body Art Show, of which I am a co-producer.
However, this ordinance fails to make exemptions for political, artistic, and theatrical expression, all of which are allowed in New York City without special permits. I would like to point out that I recently made a Body Freedom speech while nude, at noon in Times Square with the full knowledge of the New York City's Mayor's Office and Police Department and international media. I needed no permit to do this. Also, Andy Golub body-paints nude models in Times Square and in other New York City locations without a permit. Last summer, a local theater company put on a nude performance of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn also without a permit. All of these activities are verifiable with photos on the Internet and I want to mention again that they were done without the use of official permits. The permit process here in San Francisco is basically an invitation to the police to censor events on behalf of the city government.
New York City may be the art and cultural avant garde center of the United States, but that's no reason for San Francisco to brand itself as a provincial backwater with fewer civil liberties, less freedom of expression, and more censorship than New Yorkers have.
So, what I plan to do this year is to go to local media figures, to city supervisors, and to the Mayor's Office to persuade them to amend the city's anti-nudity laws so as to allow public nudity for political, artistic, and theatrical expression in public places, including the city parks. I will find out who supports or opposes this amendment. If public officials stonewall on the subject, we can take that to mean that they refuse to support the amendment. Next year, on February 1, 2018, I will either give a celebratory speech for the passage of the amendment or expose all the city officials who have refused to support it.
Thank you and let's hope that next year I can give the celebratory speech and that we will all have our freedom restored.
George Davis, February 1st 2017
All photographs taken by Leif Heilberg, Viking Photography Inc., vikingphoto@earthlink.net
