Gender-equality advocates protest for Go Topless Day in Haleiwa

Jade Eckardt

NORTH SHORE—Less than a handful of North Shore residents held a protest on Sunday at Haleiwa Beach Park in support of national Go Topless Day. The occasion was celebrated nationwide for the third consecutive year by GoTopless.org, a U.S.-based organization with the mission of “honoring gender equal rights and women’s right to go bare chested in public.” Protests in support of females gaining the right to go topless in public were held in eight other U.S. states, all on August 22.

The protest in Hawaii was organized by Tess Meier, an Oahu resident who came across GoTopless.org when she researched the issue online after becoming agitated with there not being any official nude beaches in Hawaii. Meier also challenges the lack of social acceptance toward females going topless in public.

“At the [unofficial] nude beach near Diamond Head, the police get called and people who make inappropriate advances come by and bother people,” Meier said.

Meier explained that she and other topless supporters had originally asked Haleiwa Farmers Market organizers if they could set up an informational booth, but were denied.

“We then decided to protest on the side of the road of the market, but not directed at the market organizers, and passed out fliers and put up signs stating so,” Meiers said. “We actually got a lot of positive feedback from the people of Haleiwa and got a lot of RSVPs, it was awesome.”

Meiers said that the protest would have had more than the three individuals who showed up for sign waving, including herself, but public disapproval has hampered getting the topic out to people—not to mention a last minute logistical change in location.

“It was also advertised on the UH radio station,” Meiers said, adding that Sunday morning, she noticed that all of their signs and fliers had been taken down and was told by Haleiwa Farmers Market organizers that they would not be allowed to march near the market.

The unexpected change of location that morning meant that men and women intending to participate in the protest were unaware of the new location at Haleiwa Beach Park, resulting in only Meiers, her husband Jaimie, and Yari Rogers of Haleiwa holding signs on the side of the road.

“There’s a bunch of girls looking for this and willing to take off their tops. Too bad the place was changed, no one knows where to go,” said one woman who arrived to protest. She decided to leave before the protest got started.

“If guys can go topless, we should be able to go topless at the beach,” Rogers said.

For the record, there are no official nude beaches in Hawaii, and nude sunbathers risk citation. Women who expose their breasts for the purpose of breastfeeding are much more protected under State law than sunbathers.

Hawaii State Parks defines nude as “uncovered post-pubertal human genitals, pubic areas, or the nipple or areola of post-pubertal human female breast.”

The Hawaii State Parks administrative rules on nudity reads:

“No person shall bathe, swim, walk, sunbathe, or remain on the premises in the nude, or take outdoor showers in the nude, except for bathing or changing clothes within enclosed facilities provided for those purposes or for the exposed breast of a nursing mother in the act of breastfeeding an infant.”

It is also illegal in Hawaii for an employer to refuse to hire or to reprimand a lactating employee because an employee breastfeeds or expresses milk at the workplace.

The Big Island Weekly looked into the technicalities of nudity and toplessness in Hawaii last year.

At Sunday’s attempt to include Hawaii in the Go Topless Day festivities, there was a mixed reaction. Several passersby stopped and talked with Meier, expressing their support of Meier’s goal. Drivers honked, waved, threw shaka signs and gave thumbs up, while others appeared shocked and several gave looks of disapproval.

“I wish more people had come because we got a lot of support from Haleiwa, but our location changed. We’ll do better next year,” Meier said.

Cities who participated in national Go Topless Day 2010 according to GoTopless.org:

New York City, NY
Venice Beach, CA
Chicago, IL
Miami Beach, FL
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
Oahu, HI
Denver, CO
San Francisco, CA