It’s not a Seattle nude beach, but that’s not stopping nudists
Aug 24, 2016, 8:41 AM | Updated: Dec 19, 2017, 5:04 pm
(AP)
There’s an unofficial nude beach in Seattle and it’s starting to bother neighbors.
Nude sunbathers are openly showing their skin at Denny Blaine Park near the Madrona neighborhood. Neighbors are complaining about the revealing situation. There are a whole bunch of people who are sunbathing in the buff, and the park is technically not a Seattle nude beach. So they are turning to the city but, as it turns out, there is no law against being naked in public, which is why you can do the Solstice Parade in Fremont every year. It’s only illegal to be nude in public if there is indecent exposure and it’s knowingly lewd or obscene.
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“It leaves us in an awkward position, frankly, because we want all of our facilities to be family-friendly and in this case, you could argue that it’s not,” one Seattle Parks and Recreation official told KIRO 7. “There’s nothing we can do because we don’t have any enforcement authority, even if the law said it was illegal.”
Rob Munoz, with KIRO 7, covered this story and actually had to talk to the sunbathers at the unofficial Seattle nude beach and their argument was, if people don’t like the nudity, they don’t have to be at the park.
Do they not realize that argument could be used against them? If you don’t like the rules of the park, you shouldn’t go there. If you don’t like the fact people don’t want to see you naked, then you can leave that park.
I do have a solution, though I’m not sure if it’s legal.
If I can go to a park, I can take pictures of anything I want, right? It’s in public. If you are there naked and I’m taking photos, I’m not breaking the law. So if you want to stop this behavior, just start filming. I feel like that would get these people to stop.
I understand there is some aspect of exhibitionism in this, but something tells me these nudists wouldn’t be comfortable with a random person snapping pics. Perhaps as uncomfortable as they’re making people who don’t want to see them nude sunbathe. Or does only the nude sunbather’s feelings count?