Legal Commentary

Is Partial Nudity a Neighborhood Nuisance?

By TChris

The oddest legal question of the day might be this: Does gardening in barely legal, scanty attire constitute a public nuisance?

The renters of a home in Boulder are upsetting their neighbors by gardening in a state of nature -- or at least as close as they can get without breaking the law. The nudist couple, Catharine and Robert Pierce, don thongs when they venture outside; Catharine adds pasties. Some of the neighbors complain that the Pierces can be seen by the children who attend a neighborhood school or play in nearby parks. The couple's landlord is threatening eviction for violating a lease term that prohibits nuisance behavior if the Pierces don't begin to dress "appropriately."

[more ...]

While it's true that lawful behavior can create a nuisance (the stench emitting from a pig farm is a common example), the argument that children will be psychologically endangered (or even bothered) by viewing legally exposed skin is unconvincing. Parents who feel the need to shelter their kids from the fleshy realities of life have the option of steering their children away from the Pierces' residence. Unlike a stinky hog farm, which can be expected to annoy everyone within range of the smell, scanty clothing is a nuisance only to those who bother to look and are offended by what they see.

The Pierces feel they are victims of discrimination, but no law prohibiting discrimination in housing includes nudists as a protected category. The Pierces nonetheless have a sound argument that they aren't in breach of their lease. If the landlord wanted to include a gardening dress code as a lease provision, after all, it could have done so. The landlord should stop hassling the Pierces, and the offended neighbors should avert their eyes and allow the Pierces to choose their own lawful lifestyle.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 08, 2009 (boomark / email).