Topless beaches are APPROVED in Nantucket toppling $300 fine for women

Well, that’s equality! Topless beaches are APPROVED in Nantucket – toppling law that fined women $300 with penalty up to three years in PRISON if they sunbathed without a bikini top

  • Nantucket Attorney General Maura Healey approved the law on Tuesday after residents voted ‘yes’ on the measure in May to promote gender equality 
  • Dorothy Stover, 40, was behind the proposed law and celebrated the approval on social media with a topless photo 
  • Up until the law passed, women used to be fined $300 and receive jail time for taking off their tops  

Topless beaches have now been approved in Nantucket – toppling a law which previously fined women $300 with a penalty of up to three years in prison for not covering up. 

Attorney General Maura Healey approved the law on Tuesday after voters said yes to allowing beachgoers to take their tops off on all private and public beaches on Nantucket Island in May – about 30 miles away from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

The decision came after months of gender equality debates over the proposed law, which was brought forward by 40-year-old resident Dorothy Stover. She celebrated the victory with a topless photo at a Nantucket beach.

‘Top freedom passed,’ Stover wrote in a celebratory Instagram post on Tuesday. ‘When I submitted this article a year ago, it was because I had the realization that something wasn’t right with the current law. 

‘How can being topless on a beach for a female body result in being arrested, a $300 fine and the possibility of being put on the sex offender list?’ 

Nantucket officials approved a measure allowing women to go topless at all of the town’s beaches. Pictured: A Nantucket beach

Attorney General Maura Healey approved the law on Tuesday after residents voted ‘yes’ on the measure in May to promote gender equality

Nantucket Island is about 30 miles away from Cape Cod

Dorothy Stover, 40, was behind the proposed gender equality law

Stover said she has spoken to residents about the law, including those who were once opposed to the idea but had changed their mind after listening to those in favor. 

 ‘For a year, islanders have educated each other on why this change is important. I have received feedback from countless women and families, sharing how this change of law would support them,’ she wrote. 

‘Then this past May, as a community we voted yes to top freedom on island beaches for all genders. I had people tell me that when they walked into town meeting, they were 100% going to vote “no”, but after learning about the history and hearing the arguments in favor of top freedom they changed their vote.’

‘This isn’t about progression, this is about righting a wrong,’ she continued. ‘Less than 100 years ago males were not able to be topless on beaches and fought to change this.’ 

Stover previously argued when attempting to pass the law that being topless wasn’t the same as being nude.

‘Being topless is not being nude,’ she said in May. ‘This bylaw would not make beaches nude beaches. This byline would allow tops to be optional for anyone that chooses to be topless.’ 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl1_dB7O6Nr/

A post shared by Dorothy Stover (@dorothydstover)

The decision came after months of debate. Stover said she has spoken to residents about the law, including those who were once opposed to the idea but had changed their mind after listening to those in favor 

The decision appeared to be a contentious topic as the law referred to as Article 71 reads that those who are uncomfortable being on a topless beach will be prohibited from accessing them.

‘The citizens opposing the by-law raise the argument that the by-law unduly interferes with Town residents’ and visitors’ access to town beaches,’ the law reads.

‘It is suggested that those persons who are not comfortable sharing a beach with topless women will now have no beach access.’ 

Despite the opposition to the law, officials, including Healey found no conflict in approving the law. Article 71 removed the right to fine or arrest women for taking their tops off at Nantucket beaches.

‘We approve the Town’s vote authorizing any person to go topless on any public or private beach in Nantucket because we discern no conflict between the vote and the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth,’ the law documents read.

‘The Town has the authority to choose what activities it will allow on town beaches, and we must approve any by-law reflecting such choice unless the by-law poses a clear conflict with the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth, which Article 71 does not.’ 

Healey won the state’s gubernatorial race in November and will be sworn into office next month. 

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