Topless beaches on Nantucket? Town Meeting will flesh it out
Dorothy Stover wants everyone to be able to take their tops off at Nantucket beaches. "This past summer, I was at the beach and I wanted to lay out topless," she recalled. "And I thought, 'why can't I do that?'"
The question led to action, and when Nantucket's town meeting arrives in May, voters will consider Stover's bylaw amendment titled "Gender Equality on Beaches," which reads, in part: “In order to promote equality for all persons, any person shall be allowed to be topless on any public or private beach within the Town of Nantucket.”
Currently, state law dictates that only men have the privilege of shedding their tops in public. "This is really antiquated and this is inequality," said Stover, 40, in a recent phone interview. "Some men have bigger breasts than I do."
Stover, a seventh-generation Nantucketer, whose late mother, Catherine Stover, was town clerk for more than 20 years, believes the island is ready for a change at the beach.
"Nantucket has a history of fighting for equality," said Stover.
She also runs the Nantucket Love School, which focuses on "love, pleasure and spirit," Stover said. She hopes that allowing toplessness on the beaches will help people feel less insecure about their bodies.
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"I'm not saying that everybody has to be topless,"' said Stover. "I want to support the love of the body."
Shantaw Bloise-Murphy, business manager at the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce, thinks there may be a range of differing opinions about toplessness on island beaches, but "I personally haven't heard grumbling about it," she said.
If the topless measure passes at Nantucket's Town Meeting, scheduled for May 2, there is still a rather lengthy legal journey for it to be enacted.
What happens if Nantucket Town Meeting OKs topless bathing measure?
According to Town Clerk Nancy Holmes, all prospective bylaw changes must be approved by the state attorney general. The time frame for that process likely means this summer won't be topless on the island.
"I can't see it being approved before September," said Holmes.
And there is still the possibility that the article could pass on Nantucket and not be approved by the state, or require a change in state law. Current state law on open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior cites intentional public exposure of female breasts to one or more persons as carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison and up to a $300 fine.
But Stover said she is game for any topless tempest that may arise, in part because "my mom always said 'well-behaved women rarely make history.'"
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Topless beaches on Nantucket? Town Meeting will flesh it out
