SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Seattle naked bike ride cover up
Jul 26, 2010, 3:01 AM | Updated: Mar 28, 2011, 3:46 pm
Seattle Police look the other way when hundreds of naked, paint-covered, bicyclists ride through Fremont every year for the Solstice Parade. But when almost 20 naked riders tried to make a statement on Capitol Hill, they were stopped and told to “put your clothes on,” according to one of the local World Naked Bike Ride organizers.
“We were just riding on Broadway when a squad car turned it lights, stopped in front of us and told us to get dressed,” Daniel Johnson says. “One of the women was really upset and she was told to put on her top because she wasn’t breast feeding. It didn’t seem like the officers were in touch with some of the cultural traditions in Seattle.”
Just being nude is not against the law. Showing yourself naked with the intent to alarm and offend is illegal.
Johnson tells me the rides are meant to get attention Friday night on Capitol Hill, however, they are not trying to offend anyone. The World Naked Bike Ride has organized events for years with this explanation for their demonstrations:
We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy.
“It’s just a fun way to promote cycling and we feel like it’s a good way to get the message out,” says Johnson.
No one was arrested after Friday’s naked ride, and no names were taken. The next naked ride is scheduled to take place August 7th, during Seafair.
Earlier this month, a group of nudists met with the Seattle Parks Department to discuss the possibility of a clothing-optional beach. That’s an idea that made it to the top of an online suggestion box for ways to improve the Emerald City. The third most popular proposal from Mayor Mike McGinn’s Ideas for Seattle website was a nude beach. At last check, the European-style beach has more than 2,200 votes of support.
(photo from Daniel Johnson, who is also involved with Critical Mass)
