NH Supreme Court Hears Topless Beach Case

LACONIA, NH — The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday heard the case of three women arrested for going topless at Weirs Beach in Laconia over Memorial Day weekend in 2016. Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro — associated with the "Free the Nipple" movement — were charged with public indecency by Laconia police. They are appealing their arrests, arguing Laconia's local law violates the state's Equal Rights amendment. "Free the Nipple" seeks to normalize women going nude in public as men often do.

There is no statewide New Hampshire law that specifically bans people from going nude in public, though some individual communities like Laconia have public indecency ordinances on the books.

Oral arguments in the women's case were heard Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The women have been represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.

The "Free the Nipple" movement has held several New Hampshire rallies in places like Hampton Beach in the last few years.

"I'm hoping that we can expose the double standard that allows a man to go topless and not a woman," Sinclair said in a video promoting one such rally. "A woman's nipple ... being so hyper-sexualized makes certain things like breastfeeding really difficult, especially in public."

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'Free the Nipple' Topless Rally Planned at Hampton Beach

Photo credit: Free the Nipple NH