Legal nudity at nude beaches gets the go ahead in Florida Senate committee - By James Call, (Tallahassee Democrat) 5 Feb 2020

By James Call, Tallahassee Democrat

Posted at 5:05 AM

Many areas in Florida permit “clothing optional” beaches.

A Florida lawmaker wants to make clear that it’s OK to be naked at a nude beach.
While it is illegal to expose one’s sexual organs in public, many areas permit “clothing optional” beaches and the state has at least 34 nude resorts.
But there are cases where people have been arrested and charged for being nude at a nude beach.
Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, wants to make sure folks who enjoy Florida beaches au naturel aren’t arrested and charged under the same set of laws as, say, child molestation.
Related: Florida nudists: What to cook when clothing is off the menu
“That’s ‘no bueno,’ as we say in Miami,” said Pizzo, about something “that is already legal and allowed by numerous communities across Florida.”
His bill (SB 850) would expressly allow being “naked in public ... including, but not limited to, clothing-optional beaches.”

“A mother breastfeeding her baby does not, under any circumstances, violate” the law, it adds.
When he addressed the state’s Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee Tuesday, Pizzo had a staff analysis that detailed how nude tourism holds a billion-dollar potential for the economy.

The state’s nude resort industry already attracts more than 2.2 million tourists a year, according to reports, and nude beaches generate an economic impact of as much as $7 billion.

For instance, Haulover Beach — the No. 2 nude beach in the world, according to Cosmopolitan magazine — is in Pizzo’s district. It produces more than $980,000 in parking fees annually for Miami and attracts as many as 7,000 tourists a day, he said.

But Pizzo has heard from people who said they were arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious conduct simply for being nude at a nude beach.

Communities along the state’s east coast have voted to make clothes optional at places like Apollo Beach near New Smyrna, Playalinda Beach near the Cape Canaveral Seashore, and along some Panhandle beaches west of Panama City.

It’s hard to undo a lewd and lascivious charge in the eyes of a public unfamiliar with the legal system, said Pizzo, a former prosecutor.

“It could be something completely innocuous, like being in the parking lot, but you get arrested and I do a background check, and see a lewd and lascivious charge,” Pizzo said. “I’m not going to hire you.”

Pizzo now has presented the bill to two committees without opposition from lawmakers or any members of the public.
It has one more committee to clear before being available for the Senate floor. There is no House companion.

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https://www.starfl.com/news/20200205/legal-nudity-at-nude-beaches-gets-go-ahead-in-florida-senate-committee
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Writer James Call can be contacted at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee.
This story originally published to tallahassee.com, and was shared to other Florida newspapers in the new Gannett Media network.