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Toronto Slut Walk (pg. 14)
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by VoiceBox
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best reason to register right here folks |
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| yankeeBaby |
| WTF do I keep missing? |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Topless protest planned for Sunday
TORONTO - Efforts by Toronto officials to force a topless protest to a secluded, nude beach are discriminatory, says one of the organizers.
Women have the same right in law as men to go shirtless in public, Diane Brisebois said Friday.
However city officials are concerned the National Go Topless Day rally will offend families and religious groups, and only sanctioned the event at Hanlan’s Point, Toronto’s public nude beach.
“Whatever men can do, females should be able to do,” said Brisebois, suggesting City Hall is following outdated social rules about how much skin a women should show in public — or not.
But Mark Lawson, the parks department’s customer service manager, said the special event permit application was rejected under municipal code rules that require adults on a city beach to be “appropriately attired.”
“We felt very strongly that there are restrictions,” Lawson said.
His department issues up to 600 event permits annually, after considering bylaws plus issues of food sales, noise, public health, safety, insurability, washroom access, and a belief ”that the parks can be used by all,” he said.
However, lawyer Clayton Ruby said no permit is required to hold the march legally.
Regardless of municipal codes, under 26-year-old constitutional changes, city officials “cannot deny the right to free expression ... women can go topless,” Ruby said, citing the Ontario Court of Appeal overturning Gwen Jacob’s indecent act fine for simply baring her chest in Guelph 20 years ago.
But local Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, said parks staff denied the requested Ashbridges Bay park permit after debating possible complaints.
“There are a lot of families using the beach, from all different cultures,” said McMahon.
Male participants will be asked to don bikini tops for the the noon march from Lake Shore Blvd. E., up Woodbine Ave., along Queen St. E. and down Lee Ave., which will include speeches and music plus supporters circulating a petition asking Mayor Rob Ford to modify the city’s rules or instruct staff to interpret them differently, Brisebois said.
Go Topless, which holds similar rallies in U.S. cities, is a branch of the Raelians, a group that believes humans were created by space aliens and hold liberal views about sexuality, accepting gays, transsexuals, transgendered people and others, said Brisebois, a 30-year member.
[email protected] women’s group will march bare-breasted Sunday to protest city officials wanting their topless rally held at a remote site to avoid offending public beach-goers.
Okaying the National Go Topless Day rally for the already nudity-approved Hanlan’s Point Beach on the Toronto Islands instead of Ashbridge’s Bay Park was “discrimination,” organizer Diane Brisebois said Friday.
Suggesting City Hall follows outdated social rules about how much skin a women should show in public — or not — she said “whatever men can do, females should be able to do.”
But Mark Lawson, the parks department’s customer service manager, said the special event permit application was rejected under municipal code rules that require adults on a city beach to be “appropriately attired.”
“We felt very strongly that there are restrictions,” Lawson said.
His department issues up to 600 event permits annually, after considering bylaws plus issues of food sales, noise, public health, safety, insurability, washroom access, and a belief ”that the parks can be used by all,” he said.
The Go Topless application in May provided “the first actual opportunity we’ve had to address this issue,” since he became manager in 1998, Lawson said.
A request for women to bare their breasts in a public park “doesn’t happen every day,” Lawson said. Offering a permit for the city’s only clothing-optional beach was a “viable option.”
But Brisebois said “Hanlan’s Point was not an alternative.”
If men were told “play on the beach” in order to go topless, “how do you think men would feel!” she said. “It’s secluding people.”
As for concerns that baring their breasts during the noon march from Lake Shore Blvd. E., up Woodbine Ave., along Queen St. and down Lees Ave. will attract unwanted attention or lewd remarks, “men have to be educated not to gawk when they see topless women,” Brisebois said.
Male participants will be asked to don bikini tops for the march, which will include speeches, music, a trailer, plus supporters circulating a petition asking Mayor Rob Ford to “modify the municipal code or communicate to his staff that it can be interpreted in a different way,” Brisebois said.
Go Topless, which holds similar rallies in U.S. cities, is a branch of the Raelian Movement, which believe humans were created by space aliens.
Raelians hold liberal views about sexuality, accepting gays, transexuals, transgendered people and others “as long as it’s done with respect, said Brisebois, a 30-year member. |
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| Endlesswave |
| Isn't the law here for women going topless here nonexistant? Didn't they rule that women can but it hasn't been widely seen IMO? |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by Endlesswave
Isn't the law here for women going topless here nonexistant? Didn't they rule that women can but it hasn't been widely seen IMO? |
Yeah women can go topless now so I don't really understand the protest. |
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| cammaxwell |
The law states it is legal to go topless in public, but the city can still deny that privilege of city property apparently.
Weird, but did you know this organization "GoTopless.Org" who was doing the protest (in numerous cities throughout North America as well) is a off shoot of the Raelian group. That's the cult that believed we all came from aliens, and they did a mass suicide in CA a couple years ago? |
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| -g- |
| quote: | Originally posted by cammaxwell
The law states it is legal to go topless in public, but the city can still deny that privilege of city property apparently.
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this is patently illegal for the city to impose when there is already precedent that is not only legal but an enshrine right.
all it will take for the city to be forced to re-write their own bylaws regarding park usage if for someone to challenge this in court. frankly i'm surprised they didn't just go there topless and dare the authorities to charge them - all that that would do is allow for the case to be heard and the entire park system's laws to be overturned. |
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| cammaxwell |
| quote: | Originally posted by -g-
this is patently illegal for the city to impose when there is already precedent that is not only legal but an enshrine right.
all it will take for the city to be forced to re-write their own bylaws regarding park usage if for someone to challenge this in court. frankly i'm surprised they didn't just go there topless and dare the authorities to charge them - all that that would do is allow for the case to be heard and the entire park system's laws to be overturned. |
Agreed, and you would have thought that this was the point they were trying to make. So why didn't they do that? Would have drawn more attention to there cause? |
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| -g- |
| quote: | Originally posted by cammaxwell
Agreed, and you would have thought that this was the point they were trying to make. So why didn't they do that? Would have drawn more attention to there cause? |
it would have, but it would also have required the gumption and ability to see the case through the courts.
i'm not entirely sure this particular movement is well organized enough yet to go that far. we shall see i would think, sooner or later |
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