San Francisco supervisors approved a much-publicized nudity ban Tuesday.
The vote was close, but 6 to 5 was enough for the ban to pass. It will need a second reading and another approval majority vote before it becomes final.
The issue was sparked by a group of dedicated nudists in the city's Castro District, where shopkeepers, parents and proponents of decency say they had had enough.
The ban says people can't show "genitals, perineum or anal region" in public.
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Supervisor Scott Wiener is the legislation's sponsor. Violators of the ban would risk a $100 fine, and repeat violations could lead to a $500 fine and a year in jail, according to reports.
People could still be naked on special events like gay pride and the Folsom Street Fair. But on a typical Monday? No way.
Opponents of the ban say that their freedom and rights would be infringed. Worse yet, they say that San Francisco is being threatened as a haven where a free spirit can thrive freely.
Nonsense, Wiener says.
"I don't think having some guys taking their clothes off and hanging out seven days a week at Castro and Market Street is really what San Francisco is about. I think it's a caricature of what San Francisco is about," he said previously.
